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DAVID HUMMELL GREER 



Bv CHARLES LEWIS SLATTERY 



The Master of the World: A Study of 
Christ. Crown octavo. 

The Light Within. A Study of the Holy 
Spirit. Crown octavo. 

Life Beyond Life: A Study of Immortality. 
Crown octavo. 

The Historic Ministry and the Present 
Christ: An Appeal for Unity. Crown 
octavo. 

Present-Day Preaching. Crown octavo. 

The Authority of Reugious Experience. 
Crown octavo. 

A Churchman's Reading: An Essay for Lay- 
men. Crown octavo. 

n 

Felex Reville Brunot (1820-1898) : A 
CiviUan in the War for the Union; Pres- 
ident of the First Board of Indian Com- 
missioners. With Portraits, Illustrations, 
and a Map. Crown octavo. 

Edward Lincoln Atkinson (1865-1902). 

With Illustrations. Crown octavo. 
Alexander Viets Grtswold Allen (1841- 

1908). With Portrait and Illustrations. 

Small octavo. 
David Hummell Greer (1844-1919): Eighth 

Bishop of New York. With Portrait and 

Illustrations. Crown octavo. 

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 

NEW YORK, LONDON, BOUBAY, CAIjC0TTA, AND MADRAS 





We^/ /r~^^c/^ 



J)AVID HUMMELL GREER 

EIGHTH BISHOP OF NEW YORK 



BY 

CHARLES LEWIS SLATTERY 



LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 

FOURTH AVENUE y SOth STREET, NEW YORK 

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 

BOMBAY. CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 

I92I 



(^ 



,^1'^ 



COPYRIGHT- I92I 'BY 
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 



XX 73 



TBS PtmPTON PKKSS 
WOKWOOD-lfASS-O-S-A 



PREFACE 

IN THE fall of 191 9 the family of Bishop Greer 
asked me to undertake the writing of his Life. 
With grateful memory of his counsel and friend- 
ship, I gladly undertook the task. Because he himself 
was both modest and practical, the book has been made 
as brief as possible, that it might quickly reveal his 
personality. 

To his children, first of all, the book is indebted. 
Their gracious help served me at every turn. By their 
own wish they are rarely mentioned in these pages; 
but the reader will easily imagine how constantly they 
were the thought and joy of both Bishop and Mrs. 
Greer. 

Special thanks must be given to the Bishop's sister, 
Miss Elizabeth Yellott Greer. She put at my disposal 
memories of the early days, and was most kind in 
searching local records. 

Then, in spite of her protest, there must be recorded 
the debt which the book owes to Miss Ada Barr, who 
was Bishop Greer's secretary for twenty-six years. 
With a tenacious memory, she recalled to me not only 
the years when she was associated with the Bishop in 
his work, but also the earlier years which were often 



vi PREFACE 

recalled by his correspondence and by his chance con- 
versation, and she knew the people from whom help 
would be most valuable. Her good judgment and 
sense of proportion were of unfailing assistance as the 
book progressed. 

A large number of Bishop Greer's friends and ac- 
quaintance gave me their remembrance of him. I am 
not sure that I can put down the names of all who 
spoke or wrote to me. In some instances, the names 
are recorded in the pages of the book, but very often 
the words or incidents have been woven into the story 
without any indication of the source from which they 
were received. Here then I wish to thank the Rt. Rev. 
Charles Sumner Burch, Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, 
Rt. Rev. Edwin S. Lines, Rt. Rev. Arthur S. Lloyd, 
Rt. Rev. Charles H. Brent, Rt. Rev. James H. Dar- 
lington, Rt. Rev. Julius W. Atwood, Rev. Leighton 
Parks, Rev. Theodore Sedgwick, Rev. Harry P. 
Nichols, Rev. H. Percy Silver, Rev. Archibald R. 
Mansfield, Rev. William H. Owen, Jr., Rev. Selden 
P. Delany, Rev. John R. Atkinson, Very Rev. Howard 
C. Robbins, Very Rev. Henry B. Washburn, Rev. 
William Austin Smith, Rev. Paul Gordon Favour, Rev. 
Raymond C. Knox, Rev. Allen Jacobs, Rev. James 
E. Freeman, Very Rev. Edward S. Rousmaniere, Rev. 
William S. Chase, Rev. James P. Ware, Rev. Henry 
Mottet, Rev. Henry Bassett, Rev. Edward S. Drown, 
Rev. James Caird, Rev. Francis G. Peabody, Rev. 
Rufus M. Jones, Rev. Robert E. Jones, Rev. George F. 



PREFACE vu 

Nelson, Rev. E. E. Matthews, Rev. John F. Mitchell, 
Rev. A. B. Hunter, Rev. Frederic Wyndham White, 
Rev. Paul Micou, Rev. Arthur L. Byron-Curtiss, Rev. 
William Norman Guthrie, Rev. E. Floyd Jones, Rev. 
William T. Walsh, Rev. Joseph H. Gibbons, Mr. 
William E. Foster, Mrs. George Augustus Lung, Mrs. 
George W. Peterkin, Mr. Walter B. Woodbury, Miss 
Rapallo, Miss Diman, Miss Parkhurst, the Governess 
who taught the children in Grace Church Rectory, 
Providence, Mr. John W. Fiske, Miss Rachel McDow- 
ell, Mrs. J. A. Scrymser, and Mrs. Rousmaniere. 

Bishop Burch, who had read the manuscript, gave 
a morning to me, telling me of his eight years of close 
fellowship with Bishop Greer, and adding many details 
which I have incorporated in the text. He revealed 
his own fine spirit, as he told of his friend and chief. 
It was the last time I saw him. 

I have no doubt that, though I have tried to reach 
everyone who had news by which the book might be 
enriched, there are hidden away in the lives of a mul- 
titude stories of a good and noble life which those who 
remember feel to be too sacred to reveal. Once more, 
therefore, the reader must be asked to use his imagina- 
tion and to read between the lines. 

C. L. S. 

Grace Church Rectory, 

New York, 

14 January, 192 1 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

I. Boyhood and Youth i 

II. Early Ministry 21 

in. Providence 45 

rV. St. Bartholomew's 99 

V. The Bishopric 185 

Index 323 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

David Hummell Greer, at the age of fifty-nine 

From a photograph by Pach Brothers Frontispiece 

Trinity Church, Covington Facing page 28 

Grace Church, Providence 80 

St. Bartholomew's Parish House, New York ... 112 

St. Bartholomew's Church, New York 160 

The Bronx Church House 194 

The Consecration of the Cathedral 234 

The Synod House 252 

The Bishop's House 262 

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine 280 

Caroline Augusta Greer 316 

From a photograph by Pach Brothers 



CHRONOLOGY 

1844 Bom at Wheeling, Virginia. 
1859 Entered Morgantown Academy. 
i860 Entered the Junior Class of Washington College. 
1862 Graduated from Washington College. 
1864 Entered the Theological School at Gambier, 
Ohio. 

1866 Ordered Deacon. 

1866 Minister in Charge of Christ Church 

Clarksburg, West Virginia. 
1868 Ordained Priest. 

1868 Rector of Trinity Church, Covington, 

Kentucky. 

1869 Married Caroline Augusta Keith. 
1871-72 Abroad. 

1872 Rector of Grace Church, Providence. 

1888 Rector of St. Bartholomew's Church, New York. 

1889 Bedell Lectures. 

189s Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale University. 

1897 Elected Bishop Coadjutor of Rhode Island. 

1901 Elected First Bishop of Western Massachusetts. 

1904 Bishop Coadjutor of New York. 

1908 Bishop of New York. 

1919 Died in New York. 



I 

BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 



DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

I 

BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 



DAVID HUMMELL GREER was born in 
Wheeling, Virginia,* on March 20, 1844. 
His father was Jacob Rickard Greer, whose 
paternal ancestor came to this country from Ireland 
at the end of the eighteenth century, and settled in 
Pennsylvania. The first of Jacob Greer's maternal 
ancestors to settle in America was one Reichert,t a 
Lutheran minister, who came to Pennsylvania in 1709; 
his son Jacob fought in the Battle of the Brandywine 
in 1777. Jacob Rickard Greer, who was born in Car- 
lisle in 1 81 5, on reaching manhood, thrust out towards 
the west, finding a home in Wheeling in 1835, and 
marrying in 1838 Elizabeth Yellott Armstrong. 

Elizabeth Yellott Armstrong was the daughter of 
John Armstrong, the rector of St. Matthew's Church 
in Wheeling. John Armstrong was a native of Eng- 
land, and in England had been a preacher among the 

* Now West Virginia. 

t Later anglicized into Rickard. 

3 



4 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Wesleyans. On coming to this country at the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century, he was ordained both 
Deacon and Priest by Bishop White of Pennsylvania. 
He had charges in Pennsylvania and Maryland. While 
in Maryland, he married Ann Yellott, a member of an 
eminent Baltimore family. At length he and his bride 
came to Wheeling, where he founded St. Matthew's 
Parish and was its rector for six years. There was a 
rumor that the Reverend John Armstrong had ex- 
temporary prayers before and after his sermons, and 
there were also rumors that he was a liberal in doc- 
trine. One of his parishes actually requested his resig- 
nation, but persuaded him to continue as rector for 
more than a year after his resignation had been ac- 
cepted; and then allowed him to depart only with ex- 
pressions about his "kind and fostering hand" and 
their own esteem and regret at losing "such a clergy- 
man. Christian, and friend." Mr. Armstrong was full 
of zeal, and while rector of the parish at Wheeling did 
missionary work under Bishop Chase, on the Ohio 
side of the river, while still continuing his duties at 
St. Matthew's. He died in Wheeling seventeen years 
before David was bom. His son William entered the 
Ministry, and ultimately succeeded his father as rector 
of the Wheeling parish, of which he was rector for 
twenty-two years, until the time of his death. 

True to the traditions of her family (both her 
father and brother being clergymen), and true to her 
own deeply religious nature, Elizabeth Greer yearned 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 5 

that her son, David, should be a minister of the Church. 
She was wont to say that she "prayed him into the 
Ministry." Jacob Greer, a wholesale merchant, prac- 
tical, gentle, patient, successful, was the happy and 
substantial background of a home in which the wife 
and mother was the dominant influence. John was the 
first-bom, but he died in his eighth year. Other chil- 
dren came after David: Ann Armstrong, Mary Thomp- 
son (who died in infancy), Jacob Rickard, and 
Elizabeth Yellott. David was named for his paternal 
grandfather, and for Judge Hummell, a friend of his 
mother's. He was baptized in infancy at St. Matthew's 
Church, by his uncle. 



n 



DAVID'S schooldays up to his fifteenth year 
were in WTieeling. Though Wheeling was 
within the territory of the Commonwealth 
of Virginia the character of its people was entirely dif- 
ferent from that of the people east of the mountains. 
George Washington had surveyed certain lands within 
the area belonging to Lord Fairfax but the whole re- 
gion long remained a wilderness. When settlers en- 
tered it, the mountains were so formidable a barrier 
that few came from the Old Dominion. Most of the 
people were the Scotch-Irish and the Germans (com- 
monly called the "Pennsylvania Dutch") from Western 
Pennsylvania, and the descendants of the old New 
Englanders who had first made their homes in Ohio, 
and then, in search of larger spaces, not only pushed 
out to the westward but entered the hill country of 
Northwestern Virginia. The region became a separate 
State only during the 'Sixties, when Northwestern Vir- 
ginia cast in its lot with the North. Though some of 
the soldiers from this section helped the Confederate 
cause most of the fighting men and a large majority 
of the people in general were warm adherents of the 
Union. David therefore, though born in what was 
then Virginia, was in all respects of Northern tradi- 

6 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 7 

tions. Moreover, Wheeling was in the narrow strip 
of land wedged in between Ohio and Pennsylvania, so 
that its ideals were the ideals of those two great 
Northern States rather than of the great State of Vir- 
ginia. 

In David's own immediate ancestry, but three gen- 
erations removed, there were the strains of Celtic 
Ireland and of Anglo-Saxon England. The flash of 
humor in his eye, which one finds in his earliest pic- 
tures and which never left him to the end, his quick 
initiative, his eagerness for the fray, all came from 
his Celtic inheritance. His calmness, his judgment, his 
patience, were the natural fruits of his English birth- 
right. Five generations separated him from his Ger- 
man ancestor: certainly it is not fanciful to think that 
his insistent industry and thoroughness came in some 
measure from this strain. 

He was wont to confess that as a small boy he was 
so little of a pacifist as to live from Monday morning 
to Friday afternoon in the joyful expectation of the 
fights in which he should indulge with other boys. It 
was a rule of his school that all quarrels should be 
postponed till Friday afternoon, after school hours, 
when all the scores of the week could be settled. He 
spoke of this in recent years in connection with the 
theory that there might be a war to end war. He said, 
from his own experience, he learned that the black 
eyes which he gave and received on Friday afternoons 
only made him anticipate more keenly the slaughter 



8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

that might follow on succeeding Fridays. Once a week 
he was required to write an essay upon a subject 
chosen by himself. He found little difficulty in writing, 
but much difficulty in choosing his theme. Finally, he 
hit upon a subject so generous in its dimensions that 
he felt he could use it indefinitely, — "The World and 
its Contents." Once he ran away to see a hanging. 
On that day he had a specific subject! 

When he was fifteen, David went to the Morgan- 
town Academy, a school of considerable fame which 
was later to develop into the West Virginia University. 
Morgantown was isolated from the world until after 
the war. It did not even have a telegraph office and 
the stage coach was the most rapid means of reaching 
it. The Reverend J. R. Moore was the Principal of 
the academy, and as long as he lived he was one of 
the strongest influences in David Greer's life. Before 
the founding of this academy by Mr. Moore there was 
no school in northwestern Virginia capable of fitting 
boys for college. Mr. Moore was so able and winning 
a schoolmaster that in David's time boys from all parts 
of the State of Virginia, as well as from other States, 
were coming to the school. Here David was to meet 
boys from Pittsburgh, Washington, Cincinnati, St. 
Louis, and even New Orleans. An old paper contain- 
ing the "Programme of the Seventh Annual Contest be- 
tween the Columbian and Monongalian Literary 
Societies of the Academy" for June 28, i860, records 
that David Greer read an essay under the title, "Wave 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 9 

Urges Wave." Other subjects of the evening included 
the "Durability of the Fruits of Mental Labor," the 
"Descent of Man," and "Robert Emmet's Last 
Speech." Mr. Moore hated sham and superficiality, 
and his sincerity and truth he communicated to his 
pupils. Moreover, he gave them so solid a prepara- 
tion that when they left the academy they were ready 
to enter the Junior Class in the various colleges. 



Ill 



IN THE fall of i860 David became a Junior in 
Washington College,* at Washington, Pennsyl- 
vania. Washington, as well as Morgantown, is 
in the foothills of the Alleghanies, a country of great 
natural beauty, filled with prosperous farms, whose 
houses were small, whose barns were huge, in whose 
towns there was a spirit of hospitality, a sense of 
family dignity, and a general air of stability and com- 
fort. Washington itself was a town of three or four 
thousand people. In front of the old Fulton House 
new students were investigated by upper classmen, and 
it was easy to see who came from the country and who 
came from the city. The three questions asked every 
boy were, "Where are you from? What class are you 
going to enter? What academy did you attend?" 
David was one of the three boys in the fall of i860 
who astonished his fellows by entering the Junior Class. 
He was then only sixteen years old. 

The town had in it a Southern element. When the 

rumor of war reached it a mass meeting was called 

in the old Court House to devise means to avert the 

conflict. All the collegians were there. Excited 

* Now Washington and Jefferson College. 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH ii 

speeches were made, and war began that night within 
the Washington Court House, and the next morning 
the sun shone upon the Confederate Colors, which, 
during the night, a Southern sympathizer had attached 
to the Court House cupola. The crowds were so mad- 
dened at the sight that some of the men, in order to 
purify the town, were for burning the Court House; 
and from that moment there was never doubt about 
the loyalty of Washington to the Union cause. Boy 
after boy in the college who had been drilled by Cap- 
tain Dawson went forth to the war, including one-third 
of David's class. He himself offered to enlist but was 
too young to be accepted. 

David graduated third in his class, delivering at 
Commencement the philosophical oration. His chief 
college interest had been the literary society which he, 
as orator, represented in contests with other institu- 
tions. His classmates remembered him as diffident and 
shy. They spoke of him as "clean, reliable, earnest." 
They in some way received the impression from him 
that he intended to study law. His mother's wish that 
he should enter the Ministry was evidently too sacred 
to talk about. He therefore brought to light among 
his friends only other possibilities. WTien his clsiss- 
mates learned that he had decided to become a min- 
ister they were not surprised. He seemed to them 
solid and thorough rather than brilliant; but they re- 
membered that his teachers gave unusual attention as 
he made his recitations. 



12 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

When he came out into the larger life of the world, 
though he appreciated the training given him at Wash- 
ington, he had doubts about the boasted value of a 
small college. He often wished that he might have 
had the privilege in undergraduate days of association 
with large bodies of young men and with teachers such 
as Longfellow, Agassiz, and Dana, who during his col- 
lege years for example were inspiring youth at Har- 
vard and Yale. Nevertheless, the Nation has received 
from men trained in the little colleges of the Middle 
West a certain freshness, originality, and independence 
which has not been excelled by men who seem to have 
had richer advantages. These youths, who had not 
perhaps for instructors men whom the world accounts 
great, were thrown more upon their own initiative. 
They made marvellous discoveries in college libraries 
and formed there a habit of reading which never for- 
sook them. David from his boyhood was a diligent 
reader, attacking every library within his reach. More 
than he quite knew, one imagines, this habit was due 
to the quiet college town, free from the dependence 
upon masterful teachers, free of absorbing friendships 
in a bewildering company of fellow students from 
many places, free of the distractions which belong to 
the crowded life of a city. In spite of wistful glances 
towards the larger institutions, he himself often said, 
"In the big college, the boy goes through the college; 
in the little college, the college goes through the boy." 



IV 

DAVID was quite aware of his mother's dream 
for him, but with characteristic conscien- 
tiousness he would not venture upon prep- 
aration for the Ministry until he was entirely sure that 
it was his vocation. He was only eighteen years old 
when he graduated from college. There was no need 
of haste. He returned to Wheeling. He taught school; 
he read law; he kept books in his father's office. In 
the summer of 1864, when the rumor spread that the 
southern army was on its way to Pittsburgh and 
Wheeling, he ran away with a voluntary company to 
join the Union forces. They marched all night, only 
to learn at daybreak that the report was false. The 
weary members of the little band then threw them- 
selves down wherever they could, to get some rest. 
David's bed was a cellar door, but he slept the sleep 
that patriots deserve. Every day his mother's dream 
was becoming his own conviction; and so at length he 
turned his face to the west, and in the theological 
school at Gambier, Ohio, he began his preparation for 
the Ministry. One of his contemporaries who was to 
become his admiring friend recalls that when he en- 
tered the town he wore his hair very long, curled up 
underneath and neatly oiled. This was the prevailing 

13 



14 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

style some months before, the critics remarked, but 
the style had passed; and David seemed to them to 
have come from the provinces into the metropolis. 
They elected him to the Phi Beta Kappa, but his prin- 
ciples would not permit him to enter a secret society. 
He was very narrow, very pious, but he was staunch 
and independent. It is interesting to note, in passing, 
that he at once bought a horse that he might have the 
exercise which he most loved. It is interesting also to 
note that this was all the exercise he desired. A rule 
of the seminary was that the students should take 
turns in bringing in the wood; a classmate recalls that 
when it was Greer's turn he would almost weep. 

Gambler in those days, under the guidance of Bishop 
Mcllvaine and Bishop Bedell, was the quintessence of 
Evangelical fervor. Dr. Bancroft was the professor 
who most impressed the students: he was intense, emo- 
tional, introspective. David had come from an Evan- 
gelical home. Here he was to acquire Evangelical 
theology. There was no hint of the critical and diffi- 
cult questions which were beginning to disturb theolo- 
gians and their students in large centres, but there was 
a profound religious devotion; and the depth of Evan- 
gelical piety which always underlay David Greer's 
thinking and living received in Gambler its articulation 
and its strength. One or two students reacted from 
what they thought the complacent theology; believed 
themselves radicals; and sought other schools; but 
David seems not to have known them. 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 15 

We may easily imagine the subjects which engaged 
the theological students of Gambler when they met in 
one another's rooms and when they took their walks. 
The Oxford Movement had excited England for many 
years, but Gambler, under Bishop Mcllvaine and 
Bishop Bedell, was a stronghold of Evangelical tradi- 
tion, and what the students knew of the Movement 
was largely through magazines and books, which they 
read in the library. The excitement was spreading in 
America. The Church Journal, which was sympa- 
thetic with the Tractarians of Oxford, was anathema 
to the Ohio bishops: one wrote a book called Oxford 
Theology, the other edited a diocesan paper, both for 
the purpose of nullifying the Oxford influence. Thus 
the Gambier students heard echoes of the controversy, 
and doubtless they talked of Newman and Pusey and 
all the rest. 

Theological war dimmed before the War which was 
agonizing the North and the South of our own Country. 
Bishop Mcllvaine was selected by the Government to 
go with Henry Ward Beecher to make clear the cause 
of the North to the people of England. Beecher spoke 
to the plain people; Mcllvaine, to the aristocracy. 
Both were doing valiant service for the Union. Mean- 
time, while other Communions of Christians were split- 
ting over the question of Slavery, the Episcopal Church 
held together. Though the Southern dioceses organ- 
ized into a Church in the Confederate States, the Gen- 
eral Convention, which met in St. John's Chapel, New 



i6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

York, never recognized that the South was separated. 
Every day the roll of all the dioceses was called. It 
was tacitly assumed that the Southern delegates could 
not come: that was all. The General Convention, how- 
ever, declared its entire loyalty to the Union cause. 
Of all this the students must have talked. 

Then came the General Convention after the War, 
in Philadelphia, in 1865. The roll call began with 
Alabama. Two Southern bishops, Atkinson of North 
Carolina and Lay of Arkansas, were present at the 
opening service. The kindness shown them told them 
that they were welcome. The bishop consecrated dur- 
ing the War was received without question concerning 
the regularity of his consecration. Bishop Polk, 
against his will, had become a general; but since he 
was dead, this unusual transformation was not referred 
to, and all honored his brave and generous spirit. The 
only difficulty arose when the Convention sought words 
to express gratitude to God for the ending of the War; 
but even here, words were found which all could en- 
dorse, and the Church was reunited. Grave problems 
confronted the Church as well as the Nation. These 
problems the students at Gambier certainly discussed. 

With the assistance of a Kenyon student, James 
Caird, David Greer conducted a Sunday-school in a 
sawmill. The children sat on unplaned boards which 
rested on blocks. There was no organ, and Mr. Greer 
was the choir as well as the teacher. The scholars 
were few, but Dr. Caird recalls that it was "a great 
school." 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 17 

One lifelong friendship began in the Gambier days 
with a fellow student, Arthur Lawrence, who had come 
from Harvard, and who brought to David a knowledge 
of the training and reserve of New England. But the 
main influence was the evangelical mysticism which 
sought expression in words of emotional religion. 

He had long been ready for Confirmation, but his 
mother had wished that her old friend. Bishop Johns 
of Virginia, might lay his hands upon her boy.* The 

• Two letters show the reason why there had not been an Epis- 
copal Visitation at Wheeling, and therefore why David Greer's Con- 
firmation was postponed. It was natural that his mother should 
wish him to be confirmed in the church of which both her father 
and her brother had been rector. The letter to Bishop Johns was sent 
to him by flag of truce: 

Washington, Jan. 27, 1864 
Rt. Rev. John Johns, D.D. 
My dear Bishop: 

It is very important to the interest of St. Matthew's Parish 
(Wheeling) that we should have an Episcopal visitation, and 
inasmuch as you, our own beloved Bishop, are kept from us, 
and may be kept from us for years by the war, we are con- 
strained to beg that you will give your consent to our inviting 
a bishop to officiate in your stead. Will you not give us a dis- 
cretionary power as to the selection of a bishop? We shall 
conform as nearly as practicable to your known wishes on the 
subject. 

Affectionately your humble servant, 

Thomas G. Addison 

ANSWER 

Richmond, Feb. 13, 1864 
Rev. and Dear Brother: 

Your letter, by flag of truce, has just reached me, and I hasten 
to assure you that I fuUy reciprocate the kindness which it ex- 



1 8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

months of the war rolled on, and there seemed no 
chance that the old Bishop could come into Union terri- 
tory; and so it came about that on Christmas-day, 
1864, when David was home from Gambier on his holi- 
day, Bishop Bedell of Ohio visited St. Matthew's 
Church in Wheeling, and on the spot where his mother 
and father had been married twenty-six years before, 
he was confirmed. He was admitted as a candidate 
for the Ministry in the Diocese of Ohio, on May 28, 
1864, seven months before his Confirmation: such 



presses, and that I retain an unabated interest for the good 
people of your charge. It is truly gratifying to know that the 
unhappy disturbances of the times have left unimpaired our 
higher relations and the Christian feeling which they involve. It 
is now nearly three years since I visited Wheeling. It may 
be long before the country is sufficiently settled to enable me to 
officiate there again. Whilst I trust I shall ever be unwilling to 
obtrude myself where I have no right to appear, or where my 
services are not desired, I am ready to discharge my duty as 
far as possible to the whole diocese. If therefore those who 
have the power with you, will, on my parole of honor, furnish 
me a safe conduct, you will soon receive such official services 
as you may require. I say this on the presumption that those 
in authority here will not object to the arrangement, and with 
the distinct understanding that whilst its conditions will be 
sacredly observed by me they are not to conflict with my obli- 
gations to the government under which I live. I make this 
overture in good faith, and leave the result to His disposal, who 
orders all things well. If it is regarded favorably, you will 
of course apprise me. If otherwise, I shall at least have the 
satisfaction of knowing that it is from no remissness on my 
part that a portion of my cure is deprived of Episcopal 
services. 

Yours truly, 

J, Johns, etc. 
Rev. Thos. G. Addison. 



BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 19 

havoc did the War work in the Virginias with the 
Canons of the Church. 

On June 27, 1866, Bishop Bedell ordained him Dea- 
con, in Ross Chapel, at Gambier. He was only twenty- 
two years old, but he was ready and eager for his work. 



n 

EARLY MINISTRY 



II 

EARLY MINISTRY 



UPON HIS ordination the young Deacon was 
transferred to the Diocese of Virginia, and 
placed in charge of Christ Church, Clarks- 
burg, in Harrison County, Virginia.* Here he re- 
mained for two years. There were less than forty 
communicants, but there were one hundred and thirty 
children in the Sunday-school. During the war the 
parish had been neglected and the church building had 
been abused. With almost no assistance from people 
outside the little parish, the people themselves repaired 
and refitted the church. The young rector recorded 
with some pride that this was done without resorting to 
any other means than voluntary subscription, (He 
was girding at church fairs and oyster suppers.) One 
imagines his riding on his horse over the hills, his 
preaching with fervor the sermons which he had 
written in Gambier, his affectionate interest in the 
scattered people, his pride in their accomplishment. 
A friend remembers that as he picked up the threads 

♦ Afterwards West Virginia. 
33 



24 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

of his tangled parish, he wished to be so far identified 
with his people as not to wear a surplice or a black 
gown in the service; but he yielded to the persuasion 
of his bishop. 

Since the Canon does not allow a candidate to be or- 
dained to the Priesthood until he has completed his 
twenty-fourth year, he spent two years in the Diaco- 
nate. He was ordained to the Priesthood by Bishop 
Whittle, at the Seminary Chapel in Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia, on May 19, 1868. 



II 



IN THE year of his ordination to the Priesthood 
Mr. Greer was called to Trinity Church, Coving- 
ton, Kentucky, and began his rectorship on Sun- 
day, October i8. Covington is almost a part of Cincin- 
nati, being separated from it only by the Ohio River. It 
therefore offered a young man of twenty- four an ex- 
ceptional opportunity. He had "special services" for 
young men, which were notably successful, and his 
preaching was already making him known. In the 
three years of his Covington work, three candidates 
for Orders were received, a city missionary was em- 
ployed, two missions were organized, and Trinity 
Church itself was enlarged. There were 283 communi- 
cants. A substantial indication of the response with 
which his ministry met in Covington is the record in 
the Vestry minutes that at the expiration of the first 
six months his salary was increased from $2,000 to 
$2,500, and the next year was increased to $3,000. 
His acknowledgment of this appreciation is character- 
istic: 

Your communication containing the notice of 
the Vestry's action in regard to the increase of 
my salary and leave of absence for five Sundays, 
is just received. Please signify to the Vestry my 

25 



26 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

grateful appreciation of their generous treatment 
which is worth far more to my feelings than the 
pecimiary increase to my necessities. 

With the strange assurance of youth he had an- 
nounced that he would never marry, but one day, early 
in 1869, he wrote to his mother: "You will be surprised 
to hear that I have been guilty of petty larceny! I 
have stolen the heart of a young lady, Carrie Keith." 
On June 29, 1869, he married Miss Caroline Augusta 
Keith, the daughter of Quincy Adams and Priscilla 
Dean Hathaway Keith of Covington. All who know 
anything of his later life will readily agree that this 
was a marriage made in heaven; for certainly through- 
out his Ministry no clergyman ever had a helpmeet 
who more devotedly and skilfully enriched her hus- 
band's work. The joy she brought to him was reflected 
through him to all the lives which he touched. 



Ill 



IN THOSE days the Reverend Dr. Heman Dyer of 
New York was the "Archbishop" who carried all 
Evangelical clergymen in his heart. He was con- 
stantly receiving vestries who desired a rector of his se- 
lection. While Mr. Greer was in Covington Dr. Dyer's 
eye discovered him, and he dropped the young rector a 
hint that a committee from an important vestry would 
soon be sitting in the pews of Trinity Church. He 
only wished to make sure that Mr. Greer was to be at 
home, so that the visiting committee would not make 
the journey in vain. The rector refused to commit 
himself: 

Whether or not [he said] I shall do my own 
preaching during that time is like all other doubt- 
ful things of the future, quite uncertain. You can 
tell the committee, however, they may feel sure, 
should they happen to be here over Sunday, that 
somebody will preach and that their spiritual 
wants will be provided for during their sojourn. 

While he seemed to those who stood about him to 
be altogether successful, he himself was enter- 
ing an inner conflict which forced him to resign his 
charge. He had begun to read Darwin and other ex- 

27 



28 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

ponents of the new science. The old Evangelical con- 
victions seemed brittle under the weight of the new 
knowledge. He felt that his foundations were crack- 
ling. His faith had formerly rested secure upon a Liv- 
ing Christ. He tried to make the truth upon which he 
had depended for twenty-six years dovetail with what 
was true in the new scientific revelation, but he did not 
at once see how the process could be worked out. Until 
he had gathered himself together he felt that he could 
not honestly continue to preach. He was fortunately 
able to withdraw from his work. He could command 
leisure. Therefore he determined that he and Mrs. 
Greer should spend a year abroad. 

Of this inner conflict he naturally said nothing to 
the parish. His letter of resignation to the vestry, and 
their reply thereto reveal so much of this early min- 
istry that this correspondence must be given in full: 

Covington, Ky., May 26, 1871 
To THE Vestry of 

Trinity Church, 
Covington. 
Gentlemen: 

I hereby offer my resignation of the rectorship 
of Trinity Church, Covington, to take effect upon 
June 3. I indicate that precise date so that I may 
be eligible to a seat in the Diocesan Convention 
which assembles in Louisville on May 31. The 
motive which prompts me to break my connection 




TRINITY CHURCH, COVINGTON 



EARLY MINISTRY 29 

with this parish is a desire to make a transatlantic 
voyage and visit the land of Palestine. My first 
impulse was to ask for a leave of absence, but 
upon further consideration I concluded that the 
wisest course was to sever the relations entirely 
and thus relieve myself of all responsibility in re- 
gard to the parish during my absence, and at the 
same time be unrestricted as to the date of my 
return. This course also leaves the parish free to 
procure a suitable successor if such an oppor- 
tunity should offer in the meantime. 

I trust that it will not be considered the usual 
hackneyed formality when I say that I leave the 
parish with a heavy heart. While I anticipate 
great pleasure and profit from my journey abroad 
I cannot but feel very sad at the thought of leav- 
ing the many and dear friends whom I have gath- 
ered about me here, who have sat under my 
ministry and overlooked its glaring defects, who 
have cooperated with me in parochial labors and 
borne so patiently with my inexperience, who have 
received me into their personal and social confi- 
dence with a warmth of affection unexpected and 
unmerited, who have steadfastly stood by me at 
all times and earnestly upheld me in every good 
work. All this has touched my heart and won it 
and only makes it the greater trial to leave you. 

Assuring you therefore that the memory of my 
sojourn here will be altogether and always pleas- 



30 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

ant, and praying that God's blessing may rest with- 
out measure upon Trinity Church, I remain, 
Very affectionately your friend and pastor, 

D. H. Greer 



Trinity Church, 
Covington, Ky. 
May, 1871 
The Rev. D. H. Greer 
Reverend and Dear Brother: 

The Vestry have before them your letter of 
resignation of the 26th inst., and were the feel- 
ings of the members allowed to determine their 
action an unanimous dissent would be entered 
against the severance of your relations as rector of 
the parish; but as the grounds upon which you 
base your action appear so substantial and the 
advantage to you so promising, their judgment 
forces them to yield acquiescence. 

The Vestry, speaking individually as well as a 
Board, feel well assured that they express the sen- 
timents of the congregation when they confess 
the sincere regret entertained at the termination 
of your personal ministration amongst us. We 
say personal because we look for the fruit of the 
Gospel sown by you for years to come, and while 
you are engaged in other fields we shall be reap- 
ing the fruit of your labors in Trinity Church. 



EARLY MINISTRY 31 

You referred to your inexperience — having of 
course allusion to your few years in the responsi- 
bility of parochial duties. We may be allowed 
now to express ourselves freely and to acknowl- 
edge the wonder of all that one so young should 
manifest all the maturity of age in judgment and 
discretion, should minister so prudently and wisely 
in discipline and exhibit such capability of guiding 
even the elders, which indispensable qualities in 
the success of the Pastor have only been equalled 
by that gentleness and kindness of spirit which 
sympathized with the afflicted, and that unwearied 
zeal for the cause of our Master in the salvation 
of souls and the promotion of the glory of His 
Kingdom. The hearts of our people are with 
you; their prayers will follow you; and wherever 
you go, their warmest heartfelt wishes for your 
welfare will attend you, and while you live they 
will be continued. 

That your journey may contribute to your en- 
joyment and advantage all that your bright hopes 
can anticipate; that you and yours may be pre- 
served from all harm, and that you may return to 
your native land with renewed vigor, increased 
knowledge, and a continued love for precious 
souls, is the ardent prayer of all Trinity Parish. 
By order of the Vestry. 

Peter Beale 
Sec'y 



ly 

THE question naturally arises whether David 
Greer was disturbed by the ecclesiastical 
conflict which was raging in his own Com- 
munion during the later 'Sixties and the early 'Sev- 
enties. The Oxford Movement, which began in doc- 
trine, passed over to ceremonial. The Civil War was so 
wholly engrossing that the inevitable debate over ritual 
was postponed. In October, 1866 — the War being 
over only a little more than a year — the House of 
Bishops met in New York for special business. Ritual- 
ism was discussed with energy and at length; and a 
"declaration" was set forth forbidding such innova- 
tions as incense, lights, etc. When the General Con- 
vention met in 1868, a Committee was appointed to 
report at the Convention of 18 71 what degree of uni- 
formity was practicable and expedient. 

While the Baltimore Convention of 18 71 was 
striving to decide what ceremonial was lawful. Dr. 
deKoven of Wisconsin insisted that doctrine, and not 
mere ceremonial, was involved, and that if the cere- 
monial was forbidden, he and his sympathizers must 
be tried for heresy. He then threw down the gauntlet 
by announcing his belief in very advanced Sacramental 

32 



EARLY MINISTRY 33 

doctrine. Instantly, the Convention saw that the 
comprehensiveness of the Church was at stake. If di- 
versities of emphasis and of belief were to be permitted, 
Dr. deKoven could not be cast out. A resolution was 
passed, but it was so colorless that everyone knew 
that the real issue was evaded, and good men were 
free to follow their consciences. 

The Church as a whole was not consoled, and party 
spirit raged. Men wished liberty for themselves, but 
were unwilling to grant it to men of a different tem- 
perament. The Church Journal exchanged epithets 
with The Protestant Churchman and The Standard of 
the Cross. Both the Low Churchmen and the Ritual- 
ists were not obeying all the rubrics. In 1868, the 
Reverend Charles E. Cheney of Chicago was brought 
to trial by his Bishop for habitually omitting the word 
"regenerate" in the service of Baptism. Dr. Cheney 
and his friends argued that infants could not be con- 
sciously converted. In 1871, forty-eight bishops 
signed a declaration which was intended to comfort 
Dr. Cheney and others by affirming that the word "re- 
generate" does not mean "a moral change wrought in 
the subject of Baptism." In normal times this oil 
would have stilled the churning waters. But an over- 
zealous bishop in Chicago had already deposed Dr. 
Cheney, after a trial which was so obviously imjust 
that the secular courts set its verdict aside, so far as 
his rectorship was concerned. The cry went up that 
the offending Ritualist was free, while the offending 



34 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Evangelical was held in bondage. Words grew fiercer 
and fears increased. 

As early as 1868 a conference of Low Churchmen 
met in Chicago to discuss the propriety of founding 
a Reformed Episcopal Church. The wise Chairman, 
Felix R. Brunot, held back the most violent pleaders 
for a new Communion. Then someone said, "We 
don't contemplate secession; we contemplate being 
driven out." 

After the Convention of 1871, most men felt that 
the Church was rightly comprehensive, but a few had 
so far committed themselves that they awaited only 
a leader to guide them into a new venture. The di- 
vision of forces was not made until Mr. Greer had 
ceased to be a member of the Diocese of Kentucky, 
but it was the Assistant Bishop of Kentucky who was 
ultimately prevailed upon to be the leader. On De- 
cember 2, 1873, Bishop Cummins met with eight 
clergymen and twenty la5mien, in New York, and or- 
ganized "The Reformed Episcopal Church." Many 
had been called to the meeting, but only these few re- 
sponded to the Invitation. 

David Greer was living through these turbulent ec- 
clesiastical discussions. Chicago was not far away; 
and Bishop Cummins was an officer in his own diocese. 
Apparently, Mr. Greer was unmoved. There is no 
record that he was thinking of the details which agi- 
tated men all about him. He was as simple in his 
tastes, so far as ceremonial was concerned, as Dr. 



EARLY MINISTRY 35 

Cheney or Bishop Cummins, but he saw no tragedy 
in diversity. The intensity of his parochial activity 
partly explains why he held aloof. He was also young, 
and perhaps thought that older men could be respon- 
sible for the battle if they deemed a battle necessary. 
War was never one of his proclivities. But above all, 
he had deeper concerns than ecclesiastical order: he 
was fighting within himself for the foundations of his 
religion. The revelations of modem science were al-^ 
most too much for him. He must find a way to justify 
his faith in God's revelation through Christ, with his 
ears open to all the knowledge of the present world. 



ON THE last Sunday in May, 1871, Mr. Greer 
preached his final sermon as rector of Trin- 
ity Church, Covington. On June 16, on the 
eve of sailing for England, he went to the Academy of 
Design in New York to see the pictures. The picture 
which drew his attention was of a sailor climbing the 
topmast in the midst of an angry storm. The sailor's 
eyes were glowing with determination and the pale 
face was heroic and dangerous in its resolution. Mr. 
Greer was evidently thinking of his own experience. 
On the voyage he wrote of the boundlessness of the 
sea; it made him feel that eternity is literally endless. 
He was frankly bored by the voyage. Among the 
passengers was Bishop Mcllvaine, who gave him some 
amusement, because, while this was the Bishop's seven- 
teenth trip across the ocean, he forgot all dignity and 
was publicly miserable. To a limited degree he him- 
self had reasons for sympathy. 

The journey was largely the conventional tour. He 
began with Ireland, then crossed over to England, 
where most of the time was spent in London; then 
crossed to Ostend, and went leisurely through Belgium 
and Holland, the Rhine country, Switzerland, 
Munich, Dresden, certain Italian cities, and Paris. He 

36 



EARLY MINISTRY 37 

kept a journal. A good deal of it is made up of details 
which he learned from books or from guides. Occa- 
sionally he jots down his reflections. But the deeper 
things of life are scarcely even alluded to. Knowing 
the problem which was upon his mind one learns a 
good deal by inference. 

In southern Ireland he was impressed by the con- 
trasts of the wealth of the landowners on the one hand 
and the extreme poverty of the peasants on the other. 
"Irish slavery," he wrote, "is just as absolute as Negro 
slavery was. How far the Roman Catholic Church is 
responsible and how far English legislation, is a ques- 
tion to be thought out." He noted that there was no 
middle class farmer, a type of happy man with whom 
he was familiar at home. He and Mrs. Greer spent one 
day in a jaunting car with Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt, 
little dreaming that later they would be his parishioners 
and cooperate with him in alleviating poverty in a city 
where the contrasts were quite as great as in the 
country through which they were driving. 

With the ardor of youth he saw practically every 
historic spot in London. He chanced to be in St. Paul's 
Cathedral during the funeral of the widow of Dean 
Milman: he heard Dean Mansell read part of the 
service, and he recognized Liddon's handsome face. 
At Westminster he heard Dean Stanley preach. In 
the House of Commons he heard Gladstone and Dis- 
raeli quarrelling. Others joined in the rather loose de- 
bates. Mr. Greer was not moved, because, he said, 



38 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

they stuttered, stammered, hesitated. At Windsor he 
thought what it must be, as he stood at the window 
of one of the state apartments, to live constantly in 
the presence of so radiant a view; otherwise, what in- 
terested him most in the palace and its surroundings 
was the horse on which the Queen rode, and the ponies 
provided for the princes and princesses. 

At Cologne he was shown the treasures, and straight- 
way went to his inn to write, "The value of all this 
gold and silver and costly stones must be incalculable, 
enough to evangelise almost the whole world and build 
a chapel in every town." In Geneva he marvelled over 
the color of the lake and recalled all the famous men 
who had lived in the little city. He looked with in- 
terest upon Calvin's pulpit and chair in the Cathedral. 
"As a young American," he said, "and to a certain 
extent an admirer of John Calvin, I had to sit down 
in the chair." In every city where there was a great 
organ he sought opportunities to hear it played by a 
master: he records the religious emotion which the 
music aroused in him. At Interlaken he divided his 
admiration between the vision of the Jungfrau and the 
plodding faithfulness of the goatherds. Why anyone 
should ever touch goat's milk, however, was beyond his 
imagination. He went over the St. Bernard Pass, and 
when he and his companions seemed to be not far 
from the hospice a great storm came. The expert 
guide was undaunted, but it seemed to those who fol- 
lowed him that the way was lost and that they must 



EARLY MINISTRY 39 

perish in the snow. When, several hours late, they 
reached the monks and their hospitality, gratitude 
made him wish to know all the details of their living. 
He arose early to be at prayers with them. He could 
hardly hear their voices, and learned that the altitude 
killed most of them within a decade. "These brave 
and self-sacrificing Christian men," he wrote, "liter- 
ally leave all to follow Christ, with hardship of the 
severest rigor filling up the present and the prospect 
of a speedy death darkening the future. I must con- 
fess that I never felt nearer to my ideal of the Chris- 
tian life than during this visit to St. Bernard's 
Hospice." 

There is a significant growth in simplicity in this 
journal. In the earlier parts some of the descriptions 
border upon fine writing. For instance, he would 
rarely say that a man had died but that he "had ex- 
pired" or that a certain event had been "followed by 
a fatal termination." Towards the end, the circum- 
locution disappears and there is a directness which 
characterized his later life. It is probably the transi- 
tion which is made at some time in the young man- 
hood of everyone who really grows, and it suggests 
much more than appears upon the surface. Evidently, 
though there is no direct record, he was finding a way 
to make the facts of his inner experience tally with 
the facts which men were recording who told the story 
of the outward world. 

One who knew him in his earliest ministry says that 



40 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

he was obsessed with alliteration, and that he had 
heard him say in a sermon, "Persistent prayer prevails 
with Providence." This particular sentence is prob- 
ably apocryphal; but one who chances to read the 
diary of 1871 can well fancy that it has a foundation 
in truth. 

When he reached Naples in the spring of 1872 he 
was quite sure that the Ministry, which in a dark mo- 
ment seemed to be eluding his grasp, was permanently 
his. Therefore, on March 10, he wrote to Dr. Dyer 
that he was ready for a parish: 

Since writing you, I have dropped down from 
Berlin to Naples, from north Germany to south 
Italy. From this point I expect to meander 
through Paris and London and Liverpool to New 
York. What I shall do or where I shall go from 
there is uncertain. Do you know of any idle 
parish that wants a man like me? If so, let it now 
speak, etc. Do you know of any Vestry that 
might be inveigled into giving me a call? If so, 
let them call. 

My expectation is to be home sometime in June 
— I don't mean June, I mean May — and if you 
could persuade some church to go it blind and 
give me an invitation before I get back, I should 
much prefer that way of doing it, for I abominate 
this thing of preaching a "trial" sermon; it is a 
trial sermon indeed, an excruciating one. 



EARLY MINISTRY 41 

If, however, it must be done, why then I sup- 
pose it must, and you may tell any parish that 
is interested in knowing it that I shall put myself 
up to be criticised some time next May, in some 
pulpit that may be hereafter determined upon. 

In Paris he received word from Dr. Dyer that St. 
Paul's, Boston, was vacant. On May 4, he wrote from 
London: 

I don't know what kind of a proposition that is 
that I'm to look for from St. Paul's, Boston, but 
if it's an invitation to take temporary charge of 
the parish, why then I'll have to excuse myself in 
the best English I can muster. I don't want to 
exhibit any ha'penny independence, but, my dear 
Doctor, indeed, indeed, I never could put myself 
in any such position. I am not ambitious after a 
big church, though I would not shrink from the 
responsibility of one if it were offered me without 
any such restrictions as those supposed. I am 
willing to work anywhere, no matter how obscure 
nor how conspicuous the position, but I must be 
free and unembarrassed. My ambition is to give 
distinction to my station by honest and earnest 
work and not for the station to give distinction to 
me, so that I care very little where I am settled, 
except, as I said above, I must be free from un- 
reasonable restrictions. 



42 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

I expect to sail from Liverpool next Saturday, 
May II, in the good Steamer Russia, and if wind 
and weather favor the voyage, will be in New 
York about Tuesday, May 21, If it is convenient 
and advisable you may dispose of me for the fol- 
lowing Sunday, May 26. I am very grateful to 
you for all your efforts on my behalf, and remain, 
Yours distinguishedly, 

D. H. Greer 

P. S. 

Don't you lose this letter before you read it! 

Arthur Lawrence, who knew many of the people in 
St. Paul's, was doing his best to persuade the Vestry 
that Mr. Greer was just the man they should have as 
rector. He told his young cousin, William Lawrence, 
who had recently graduated from Harvard College, 
that he must be sure to go to St. Paul's on May 26 to 
hear his friend preach. Bishop Lawrence, in his ser- 
mon in memory of Bishop Greer, told his impressions 
of the preacher: 

My memory runs back to the spring of 1872, 
over forty-seven years ago, when I first saw Greer 
and heard him preach. . . . My cousin believed 
in him as a man of high promise and asked me to 
go and hear him. I can see him now in the pulpit 
but hardly recognizable. The fashion of that day, 
among some of the evangelicals, was the wearing 



EARLY MINISTRY 43 

of a full chin beard. Dr. Bancroft wore such a 
beard; so did Dr. Nicholson, the former rector 
of St. Paul's; and so did the young Kentucky 
preacher, Mr. Greer. He did not receive the call 
to St. Paul's, and he always protested to me that 
he had the piety which Boston needed, but lacked 
the culture which Bostonians demanded. 

Doubtless the sermon he preached in St. Paul's was 
one of the old sermons which he had preached in Cov- 
ington. He was prepared to preach a new kind of 
sermon but he could not instantly readjust himself to 
the task. Though the vestry of St. Paul's did not dis- 
cern their opportunity there chanced to be in the con- 
gregation a vestryman from Grace Church, Provi- 
dence, who immediately wrote to his colleagues on the 
vestry: 

There is a young clergyman here named David 
Greer. He looks like a son but talks like a father. 
I think we ought to get him quickly. 

Upon further investigation, the vestry of Grace 
Church, Providence, felt that he was the one man to 
be their rector, and so on Sunday, September 15, 1872, 
he preached his first sermon in Providence, beginning 
a rectorship which was to be known throughout the 
country. 



in 

PROVIDENCE 



Ill 

PROVIDENCE 



FOR SIXTEEN years Mr. Greer was identified 
with Providence. His ability as a preacher 
was quickly discovered; and then, as his per- 
sonal friendships grew, his influence upon individuals 
brought the effect of his preaching to its full power. 

To one going through New England, glancing casu- 
ally at its cities and towns, there would come the im- 
pression that the cities in the eastern part were small 
copies of Boston; while in western Connecticut one 
would expect to find copies of New York. However 
true this may be of cities like Worcester, Springfield, 
and New Haven, it never was true of Providence. 
Great fortunes had been made in Rhode Island; and 
Providence was rich, luxurious, self-centred. In the 
blood of the city was the hostility to Boston which 
came down through the generations from the day when 
Roger Williams was driven out to find a home in the 
wilderness. For this reason, possibly, Providence 
scorned to imitate the culture of Boston, and was com- 
placently happy in its provincial mind. Nor had it 

47 



48 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

envy for the wealth of New York, for had not Provi- 
dence itself great wealth? Because Rhode Island is 
small, it offered serious temptations to the unscrupu- 
lous politician: there have been times when the civic 
conditions have been a national scandal; there were 
pocket boroughs which were known to be owned by 
one man. But, whatever might be seething under- 
neath, on the surface Providence for many years rep- 
resented not only prosperity but gentleness and dig- 
nity. 

When Mr. Greer became rector of Grace Church 
in 1872 he found a parish made up largely of pros- 
perous people. The older families of Providence were 
almost wholly in St. John's Parish, which was the 
mother church of the city. With the growth of the 
city St. John's became somewhat isolated, and, though 
it still held its preeminence, it gave many parishioners, 
especially among the young, to Grace Church (which 
was the popular church) and to St, Stephen's (which 
was the church having the most elaborate service). 
During the sixteen years of Mr. Greer's life in Provi- 
dence he came to have so much quiet leadership, espe- 
cially among the clergy, that in his parish year book 
he printed on the last page the names of all the clergy 
of Providence, with their addresses. There was there- 
fore no feeling of competition, only of cooperation. 

One of his children, William Armstrong, was bom 
in Covington. His other children, Arthur Lawrence, 
Jean Keith, and Mary Constance, were all born in 



PROVIDENCE 49 

Providence. These children, with Mrs. Greer, made the 
happy environment of his work. The study in the 
rectory* was a sunny room on the ground floor at the 
back of the house. It was an unwritten law that no 
child should enter this room unless invited; and the 
children considerately tiptoed past the door. There, 
every morning, the family came together for prayers; 
and since, ordinarily, there was no service in Grace 
Church on Sunday night, but a service in the after- 
noon, the children spent Sunday evenings with their 
father and mother in this same study. His children 
can never remember that he was ever cross with them. 
When Mrs. Greer would say, "Don't bother Papa; 
don't interrupt him when he is reading," he would 
answer, "Oh, let the children ask questions; that is 
the way they will learn." One cold winter morning, 
he delighted his children by inviting the peanut man 
at the corner to go to the rectory for a cup of coffee, 
while he himself kept the stand. The business was 
brisk. 

He was fond of taking a short walk before breakfast 
and also after supper, and he usually took one of the 
little girls with him. While he played with his chil- 
dren he was also teaching then. He was not so inter- 
ested in imparting facts as he was in showing the 
reasons and explanations. "Why?" was the question 
he most liked to answer. He taught the children to 

♦ This house (occupied from 1872 to 1887) was at 8 Greene 
Street. In 1887 he removed to to Brown Street. 



so DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

play chess, and he and Mrs. Greer would often sit 
down with the boys to play whist. 

The loving interest which Mr. Greer gave to his 
own children was extended to children with whom he 
came in contact. The Thomas family lived in a house 
on another street, but the fence of the rectory garden 
was also the boundary of the Thomases' garden. The 
Thomases were then Congregationalists, but the boys 
had many conversations over the fence with the rector 
of Grace Church. They cannot remember that he ever 
said anything about religion, but they liked him and 
he became to them a hero. All of them found their 
way into the Episcopal Church, and two of them en- 
tered its Ministry. In a summer holiday the Greers 
occupied a rambling farmhouse in Wickford. There 
was one room in this house, however, which was oc- 
cupied by a boy named Arthur Rogers, a member of 
St. Stephen's Parish in Providence. He was just com- 
pleting his college course, expecting to study law. Here 
again there was no talk about religion, but there was 
a delightful personality shining out from the face which 
won the heart of the boy, and it seemed to him after- 
wards, when he tried to determine why he went into 
the Ministry, that it was Mr. Greer's example which 
turned his thoughts in that direction. He would like 
to be such a man as he. 

Mr. Greer appealed even more to the children and 
youth of whom he was directly the pastor. A lady, 
whose father was a vestryman of Grace Church, and 



PROVIDENCE 51 

who therefore grew up under Dr. Greer's rectorship, 
has written: 

As children we loved him, and it was a great 
event when he and Mrs. Greer made their usual 
call in the autumn, coming with horse and 
phaeton, to see my mother. We always ran in 
and stood by, admiringly listening to the anec- 
dotes of their own family life. When the Greer 
family were going abroad one summer we all felt 
as anxious for their safe voyage as if they were 
our own family. The Sunday before they sailed 
I went with my mother and sister to the afternoon 
service, and we stayed afterwards to say Good-bye. 
I well remember my mother's emotion and our 
own childish grief at parting, a reflection no 
doubt of our mother's apprehension, but all be- 
cause of our real affection for our dear Mr. Greer. 

During my school days I used often to turn to 
him in doubt, and for real help when I had a for- 
midable essay to write. It never occurred to me 
but that he had plenty of time to spare for my 
simple affairs. He was always generous of his 
time, and I came away feeling that he was glad to 
help me. One Sunday morning I was struck with 
the phrase in Isaiah in the morning Lesson, "Mul- 
titudes, in the valley of decision." I asked Mr. 
Greer's opinion, whether this phrase would make 
a good subject for a composition. He gave me 
the whole of a May afternoon, and the result was 



52 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

an essay with the title, The Valley of Vision. Tliis 
talk cleared my mind in many ways, in addition 
to helping me with my immediate task. 

There were other young people who knew him only 
as they saw him from the pews of Grace Church as 
he stood in the pulpit. Testimony comes abundantly 
that these young listeners were helped by his sermons, 
not only on Sundays but, in Lent, also, during the 
weekdays. From the year 1880 until he left Provi- 
dence, in 1888, Grace Church was crowded with col- 
lege men and young women, who felt that Mr. Greer 
understood by his own experience what they were 
thinking. They trusted him as a guide to the deeper 
knowledge. He preached always on Mondays and 
Tuesdays in Lent, at five o'clock, and long before the 
hour young men and women as well as older people 
filled the pews. 

After he had been in Providence a little time his 
preaching so increased the numbers of the parish that 
the Vestry offered him an assistant. He declined this 
form of help, and asked that the money which would 
have been paid for an assistant be used for a horse 
and phaeton that he might the more quickly go in and 
out among the people. One element which made his 
preaching vital was this desire to be with people and 
to help them one by one. In addition to the help which 
he gave to them was the help which he received from 
them. He always had the attitude, when talking with 



PROVIDENCE S3 

another, of one who was learning. He was asking 
questions. He was discovering the ways in which 
people lived. He was thinking their thoughts after 
them. He was trying to understand their goodness. 
His request therefore for a horse was part of the prep- 
aration for his sermons. 

As time goes on people forget the inconveniences 
and disagreeable incidents of the past. It is well that 
these incidents should be forgotten; but, that younger 
men who read this book may know that one who 
seemed so invariably fortunate as Mr. Greer, had also, 
even as they, the petty difficulties of the Ministry, one 
or two incidents may be recalled. There was an ob- 
stinate sexton who had long been in the employ of the 
parish, but who with the years had grown careless. 
The young rector, jealous for the dignity and order 
which should pertain to everything connected with 
worship, felt that something must be done. One Sun- 
day morning he noticed, during the Psalter, that a 
ladder had been left in the sanctuary. He read the 
First Lesson; the Te Deum was sung by the choir; 
and then, instead of going to the lectern to read the 
Second Lesson, he went slowly into the sanctuary (the 
congregation holding their breath), picked up the 
ladder, and solemnly carried it out amid an awful si- 
lence. When he returned, the congregation was smil- 
ing, because they had discovered a similar ladder on 
the other side of the sanctuary. Mr. Greer either did 
not see it or believed that the warning to the sexton was 



S4 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

sufficiently obvious, and went immediately to the lec- 
tern to continue the service. 

With the new people who came into the Church, 
many of them unfamiliar with the Christian Year, 
there was a good deal of necessary training in Church 
customs. According to tradition, a vestryman who 
was detained' on a journey telegraphed to the rector 
that he could not return by Easter-day and therefore 
would the rector please have the Easter Services post- 
poned one week, until he could be present! Mr. Greer 
found great difficulty in raising money. Though there 
was wealth in the city, those who owned it had not 
yet learned to give for others as they spent for them- 
selves. At a meeting of the Vestry the rector called 
their attention to the fact that he was often asked for 
sums of money, large and small, which he could not 
always give from his own income. So he begged that 
a "discretionary fund" be started and placed in the 
bank at his disposal. Upon this he could draw when 
occasion demanded. The Vestry, heartily approving 
the plan, immediately gave what they thought adequate 
sums. A few days afterwards Mr. Greer dropped in 
to the office of one of the vestrymen. "Well," said 
the vestryman, "I am sure you feel very rich these 
days with a rector's fund at your command." Mr. 
Greer laughed: "I had such urgent appeals the very 
next day," he confessed, "that I drew out two checks 
to help these poor fellows, — and now there is no 
rector's fund!" 



PROVIDENCE 55 

On the night of December i, 1873, Mr. and Mrs. 
Greer had a guest staying in their house, the Right 
Reverend George David Cummins, D.D., Assistant 
Bishop of Kentucky. They talked of Covington and 
of their fellowship in the past. They talked also about 
a meeting which had been called in New York the next 
day to consider the possibility of starting a new Com- 
munion as an off-shoot of the Episcopal Church. 
Bishop Cummins tried to persuade his friend, Mr. 
Greer, to go to the meeting, but there was no response. 
After the Bishop had gone to his room, Mr. and Mrs. 
Greer were sitting over the fire, speaking of their guest 
and his prospects. Presently they heard two sharp 
raps on the floor above them, and Mrs. Greer de- 
cided that the Bishop had dropped his shoes outside 
his door, and as instantly decided that they must be 
polished forthwith. There was no man-servant in the 
house; so Mr. Greer, on his hands and knees, stole to 
the door, seized the shoes, brought them down, and 
polished them. In telling the story in after years, with 
great relish, Mr. Greer would finish by saying, "And 
in those shoes he walked out the next day into the Re- 
formed Episcopal Church." 



II 

IN THE later years of Mr. Greer's ministry in 
Providence, Bishop Clark, because of his own 
age and because of Mr. Greer's administrative 
talent, leaned more and more upon him in the guidance 
of the diocese. He was, for a large part of his time 
in Providence, a trustee of the Public Library, and 
met with a special committee once a week. He recom- 
mended for an important position in the Library a 
Miss Emerson, who became one of the most distin- 
guished servants of the public which the library has 
ever had. Bishop Clark said to Julius Atwood, "Greer 
knows how to pick the plums." 

Mr. Greer himself founded the Saint Elizabeth 
Home, a home for incurables, because Providence had 
made no provision for such cases. His parishioners 
came to his assistance, and the home which he started 
was in time amply endowed. On great civic days, 
when the Church needed representation. Bishop Clark 
almost invariably turned to him, and the people heard 
him gladly. He was a leader on the floor of the Di- 
ocesan Convention. He was interested in every ques- 
tion. The laymen liked to hear his opinion because he 
was never academic, always practical. The debates 
on the most anxious problems were nearly always tri- 

s6 



PROVIDENCE 57 

angular: Dr. Richards of St. John's, and Mr. Fiske 
of St. Stephen's speaking more or less abstractly, 
being more or less detached. Mr. Greer always 
brought the concrete into the discussion. And Bishop 
Clark and the laymen nodded approvingly. It was 
natural that he should be chosen to represent the dio- 
cese in the General Convention, and four times he sat 
with the Rhode Island delegation (1877, 1880, 1883, 
1886). Dr. Nelson remembers that Dr. Potter asked 
him to preach in Grace Church, one Sunday afternoon, 
when the Convention met in New York in 1880. His 
carriage was delayed, and the prompt rector did not 
wait for the preacher but began the service on time. 
Mr. Greer entered the church just as the sermon hjmin 
was ending, going at once to the pulpit, and electrify- 
ing the anxious Dr. Potter by announcing as his text, 
"Art thou he that should come, or do we look for an- 
other?" 

Because there was little self-seeking and much desire 
really to serve, Mr. Greer became unconsciously the 
elder brother among the Clergy. When someone said 
that a certain rector would be easy to work under, Mr. 
Greer was indignant. "Do you suppose," he said, 
"that my assistant works under me? No, he works 
with me." An eminent clergyman writes that it was 
through Mr. Greer that he was called to his first parish 
in Pontiac, ten miles south of Providence. Mr. Greer 
met him when the Boston train drew in, carried him 
off to the rectory for luncheon, and then afterwards 



S8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

walked with him to the train which was to take him to 
Pontiac. His parting warning was, "Remember, that 
you are not simply to be a minister of the Episcopal 
Church; you will represent the Church Universal." 
The Pontiac parish was composed of all sorts of Chris- 
tian people, Methodists and Congregationalists among 
them. Mr. Greer was eager that the young man for 
whom he had vouched should be a loving pastor to all 
of them. 

On Monday mornings several young parsons formed 
the habit of dropping into Mr. Greer's study for an 
informal talk. They did not know whether he stayed 
in to receive them, but as a matter of fact they felt 
sure that then they would find him. His wit played 
lightly over the news they brought him, but before 
they went away there was always a serious side to the 
conference. He gave them his views on the best way 
to manage boys' clubs. They talked of books. Dr. 
Allen's Continuity of Christian Thought had just been 
published. All the young men were reading it. Mr. 
Greer felt that Dr. Allen had not done full justice to 
Origen. Then they talked of Origen. The young men 
blushingly told him how pleasant it would be if he 
could sometime be their bishop; whereupon he 
laughed, saying, "No diocese would ever have me for 
a bishop!" 

He was so interested in these clergymen who came 
to his study that he was glad to go to their parishes 
to preach for them. When a village learned that the 



PROVIDENCE 59 

famous rector from Providence was coming to the 
night service, everyone went to church. The choir 
sang the most ambitious music which they had sung 
on the previous Easter. He would graciously stay 
after the service to shake hands with the choirmaster. 
The encouragement which he gave to the young parson 
set him up for weeks. These sermons which he 
preached at suburban parishes were read from steno- 
graphic reports of his Sunday morning preaching at 
Grace Church. The thought was there, and the gleam- 
ing eye, but the directness and the freshness were 
missed by those who had really heard him preach in 
his freedom at home. What the people felt, however, 
was that a great man had come to the "little upper 
room" and they loved both him and the Church the 
more. 

There were a good many Swedes in Providence, and 
it was through Mr. Greer that Mr. J. G. Hammarskold 
came into the Ministry of the Episcopal Church. 
While Mr. Hammarskold was still a layreader, Mr. 
Greer often went with him to Swedish weddings and 
other functions. Sometimes he would stay for an 
hour or two, mingling with the people as one of their 
friends. Whenever Mr. Hammarskold came to him 
with difficulties, he would always say, "Don't worry; 
it could be worse ; I will attend to it and you can just 
forget it," Dr. Hammarskold is now at the head of 
all the Swedish work of the Episcopal Church in 
America. 



6o DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

As in every parish, the great day at Grace Church 
was Easter, but, as in no other parish, the great pop- 
ular service of the year was Morning Prayer at six 
o'clock on Easter morning. The music at this service 
was elaborate and beautiful. There was no address. 
Men and women streamed in from all parts of the city 
till the church was crowded. Many among these were 
non-churchgoers to whom this early Easter service was 
the one act of public worship in the year. The experi- 
ence of this service was so thrilling that often the young 
Clergy who looked up to Mr. Greer would spend the 
night at the rectory that they might take part in this 
early service. At the noonday service there was invari- 
ably Confirmation, with a sermon by Bishop Clark. 
Since there was no night service, but only an after- 
noon service on Easter-day, Mr. Greer once said that 
until he became rector of St. Bartholomew's in New 
York he had never really preached an Easter sermon. 

In Advent and Lent there was a popular night serv- 
ice in Grace Church, at which Mr. Greer was expected 
to preach, though sometimes he gave his young friends 
the terrifying experience of preaching to a congrega- 
tion which had expected to hear him. He was always 
gracious to the immature preacher, telling him both 
by word of mouth in the vestryroom and by a letter 
sent afterwards, how much good he had done the 
people. 



m 



WHILE Mr. Greer was getting inspiration 
from younger men he was also deepening 
his friendship with men of his own age 
and with men who were much older. There were two 
clubs whose influence made their mark upon his 
thought and his preaching. One was the Friday 
Evening Club, composed of twelve representative men 
in Providence from the learned professions, and, as 
Bishop Clark said, "with a percentage of material 
drawn from those inferior walks of life in which a 
knowledge of books and a general familiarity with 
literature and science are not regarded as essential." 

Mr. William E. Foster, of the Providence Public Li- 
brary, thus describes the club: 

This club had a name, but no "local habita- 
tion." Its meetings were held in rotation, at the 
houses of its members. The club was organized 
in 1868, and held its last meeting in 1884. It was 
a small club, not more than seventeen men being 
connected with it from the first to last, and not 
all of these at any one time; but to mention the 
names of its members is almost like calling the roll 
of the most eminent men in Providence, of that 

6z 



62 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

day. Three of them were clergymen, namely: 
Thomas March Clark, then Bishop of Rhode 
Island; David Hummell Greer, afterwards Bishop 
of New York; and Samuel Lunt Caldwell, then 
minister of the First Baptist Church in Provi- 
dence, and afterwards President of Vassar Col- 
lege. The profession of the law was represented 
by Charles Smith Bradley, for several years Chief 
Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court; and 
Edwin Channing Larned. Medicine was repre- 
sented by Dr. Edward Thompson Caswell, who 
had had an unusually long experience of medical 
study in Europe. Brown University was repre- 
sented by Dr. Alexis Caswell, its President from 
1868 to 1872; and by George Ide Chace, Eli 
Whitney Blake, John Larkin Lincoln, and Jere- 
miah Lewis Diman, men of rare personality, in 
fields so dissimilar as the departments of Chem- 
istry, Physics, Latin, and History respectively. 
Other walks in life were represented by John Rus- 
sell Bartlett, for many years the custodian of the 
priceless contents of the John Carter Brown Li- 
brary; William Gammell, the first of this name, 
and widely known for his historical studies; 
Augustus Hoppin, the well-known artist; Row- 
land Hazard of Peace Dale, and William Babcock 
Weeden of Providence, two conspicuous instances 
of men in active business life with a keen and un- 
tiring interest in historical and literary studies. 



PROVIDENCE 63 

Lastly, there should be mentioned Alexander 
Farnum, the man who was perhaps most inti- 
mately concerned with the club's development, a 
financier of exceptional sagacity, the collector of 
one of the choicest private libraries of that period, 
in New England, and a man of unerring taste and 
judgment. 

I should add in passing that four of the mem- 
bers of this club lived within an eighth of a mile 
from the site of our library building, namely, 
Dr. Greer, Mr. Hoppin, Mr. Farnum, and Dr. 
Edward T. Caswell. Also, that five of them served 
as Trustees of the Providence Library, namely. 
Dr. Greer, Professor Lincoln, Mr. Weeden, Mr. 
Hazard, and Mr. Farnum. Also, as a curious 
coincidence, that three of them were born in a 
comparatively small New England community, 
namely, Newburyport, at the mouth of the Merri- 
mac River, in Massachusetts. These were 
Thomas March Clark, Charles Smith Bradley, 
and Samuel Lunt Caldwell. 

An interesting account of this club appeared in 
print in 1898, by one of its members, Mr. Weeden. 
An incidental comment of his on Bishop Clark is 
of interest, as follows: 

"The roundest man, the most versatile member 
of our circle, was Bishop Clark. In all his dis- 
courses there was manifested the same large in- 
telligence, enlightened by a many-sided contact 



64 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

with the life of the time. The club was greatly en- 
livened by the exercise and play of the Bishop's 
humor." 

Bishop Clark said that the comments of the learned 
members were copious. They had unbounded skill in 
"twisting a thought over and over, and inside out, and 
upside down, and downside up; probing, and trying, 
and testing, and analyzing, and doubting, and affirm- 
ing; turning every facet of the thought towards the 
light, or otherwise; penetrating all its crevices, crawl- 
ing into all its cracks, spying out all its specks, until 
at last the other members of the Club find themselves 
unconsciously murmuring the little hymn of Mr. Pope, 
with which they were sung to sleep in their child- 
hood: 

Why hath not man the microscopic eye? 
For this plain reason, — he is not a fly. 

One night, when the Club met at Mr. Greer's, Bishop 
Clark read a paper characterizing the various members. 
The members were so pleased with the sketches of 
themselves that the paper was elaborately printed, il- 
lustrated with a portrait of its author. This portrait is 
of the back of Bishop Clark's curly head, and humor 
shines from every hair. No names are attached to the 
descriptions, but evidently Mr. Greer was number 
seven: 

Once more we come into a presence, where we 
feel that we must tread delicately, as poor old 



PROVIDENCE 6s 

Agag did, when he was summoned to appear before 
the king. If high position, elevated and courteous 
demeanor, accurate learning, command of re- 
sources, a clear and flowing style, and such ex- 
haustive treatment of every subject as to leave no 
room for appendix or codicil, could ever entitle one 
to wear the laurel crown, here is a case in which 
"the brightest bays that ever grew on Seekonk's 
plains" might, with appropriateness, be woven to- 
gether to form a verdant and unfading wreath 
for the adornment of a brow around which the 
nine daughters of Jupiter may easily be conceived 
as hovering by night and by day in rapt entrance- 
ment, and in presence of whom the Genius of 
Rhetoric might well do humble homage, and the 
Muse of History, with Roger Williams by her side 
— (Here, the reader regrets to say, the sentence 
becomes illegible, although it appears to have been 
continued at some considerable length.) This 
accomplished gentleman, unlike one of the mem- 
bers whose offences in this respect have been set 
down more in candor than in malice, has never 
presented to the Club a carelessly written or an 
inferior paper, and all the topics that he handles 
are dignified, serious, timely, and valuable. While 
he reads one could almost wish that his melliflu- 
ous and billowy tones might chant on till the 
break of day, and no wonder that every member 
of the Club murmurs to himself, as the soft ca- 



66 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

dences rise and fall, "There's music in it." And 
when, after another has occupied the reader's 
chair, in his turn, he is called upon to "strike the 
lyre," he does it with a grace and gentleness which 
greatly softens the blow, even when the liar has 
given just offence by the crudity of his theories 
and the palpable heresy of his opinions. As when 
he reads, so when he talks, one might wish that he 
would never stop, — a wish which, in some in- 
stances, he seems somewhat disposed to gratify. 

The other Club which meant much to Mr. Greer 
was the Boston Clericus. This Club had been started 
by William Wilberforce Newton, who, remembering 
the pleasant Club of which he and Phillips Brooks had 
been members in Philadelphia, begged a few friends 
to start a similar Club in Massachusetts. He, as sec- 
retary, was the only officer; but in some way, no one 
knew exactly how. Dr. Brooks gravitated to the office 
of president. The meetings were at first in the vari- 
ous homes of the members, but Mr. Brooks finally 
insisted that the Club meet always in his pleasant 
apartment at the Kempton. When he acquired the 
large study in the new Trinity Rectory, the Club 
seemed exactly to fit it. The books, the pictures of 
his friends and heroes, and the beautiful objects gath- 
ered on his journeys, provided a background which 
few Clubs have ever had; and his personality domi- 
nated his friends as it filled the room. When he became 



PROVIDENCE 67 

Bishop he insisted that the Club must have another 
president. Those who remember it during the 'Sev- 
enties and 'Eighties feel that there never was such a 
stimulating fellowship as this band of friendly clergy- 
men. Not to speak of those who are still living (such 
as Bishop Hall, Bishop Lawrence, and Dr. Leighton 
Parks), there were, besides Mr. Newton, Dr. Brooks 
and Mr. Greer, men like Bishop Clark, Dr. Elisha 
Mulford, Dr. William R. Huntington, Dr. A. V. G. 
Allen, Dr. Charles A. L. Richards, Dr. C. George 
Currie, Dr. Francis Wharton, Dr. Arthur Lawrence, 
Dr. Frederic Courtney, Dr. Henry S. Nash, and Dr. 
Percy Browne. It was at this Club that Phillips 
Brooks read his paper on Heresy. In 1877 he pub- 
lished his Lectures on Preaching, in 1878 his first vol- 
ume of Sermons, in 1883 his Sermons Preached in 
English Churches. The Clericus delighted in the 
honor which was given to their leader wherever Eng- 
lish was spoken; but Percy Browne would whisper that 
it was hard luck to have to preach so near Phillips 
Brooks's pulpit as St. James's in Roxbury, and to be 
perpetually compared with the great preacher of his 
time. Even while the other Boston Clergy did not fail 
to recognize the prophet, they sighed sympathetically 
with the Roxbury frankness. 

The discussion was apt to be the most interesting 
part of the evening. If the paper were on an historical 
subject, Dr. Allen's summaries at the end brought 
those who had not known him as a teacher, into 



68 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

the light which his pupils saw in his classroom. Dr. 
Allen too was rising into fame. His Continuity of 
Christian Thought came out in 1886, and even Eng- 
lish Bishops prescribed it for their candidates. Of 
him too the Clericus was justly proud; and his low, 
musical voice was heard with increasing respect. These 
were years when Dr. Huntington was giving himself 
to the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer. His 
first paper on Prayer Book Revision was read to the 
Club. The Club gladly heard his liturgical papers, 
and his word was with authority as well as with sharp 
humor in the discussion. Percy Browne and William 
Wilberforce Newton flashed their wit. One night 
someone made a disparaging remark about the growing 
custom among clergymen of wearing academic hoods 
over their surplices. Mr. Newton said that he did 
think that the clergy ought to obey St. Paul, and for- 
get those things which are behind. Dr. Elisha Mulford 
had aroused the pride of the Club by his profound 
books on The Nation and The Republic of God: he 
aroused also their mirth one night when he complained 
that the publishers had not put his treatise on The 
Nation on the news-stands in the railway stations. He 
felt sure that, if the public could really get at it, it 
would have an immense influence on the fall elections. 
The admiring members of the Club who had toiled 
through its pages had a vision of the ordinary Ameri- 
can citizen sitting down in the dust and noise of a 
railway train to translate Mulford into politics. 



PROVIDENCE 69 

Here men discussed the books which all had been 
reading, and the man who had read some book which 
none of the others had read gave the rest the benefit 
of his experience. The Club stood for friendship, for 
wit, and for diligence in study. Some of the men were 
scholars; others were in the practical Ministry; all 
were glad to face the questions of the day in the light 
of both the Gospel and modern knowledge. 

As president of the Club, Dr. Brooks gave a break- 
fast to Dean Stanley, at the Hotel Brunswick in Bos- 
ton, when the Dean was in this country in 1878. He 
invited all the clergy in Massachusetts and a few out- 
side. Bishop Paddock was asked to preside, but since 
for some reason he declined, Bishop Clark was the 
toastmaster. Those who remember the occasion say 
that Stanley made one of the worst speeches ever heard 
in America. He himself seemed conscious of his fail- 
ure and at the end asked the privilege of speaking 
again, when to some degree he redeemed himself. 
Bishop Clark, proud that there was a brilliant man, 
one of his own presbyters, at the table, described him 
in terms of impossible magnificence, and then called 
upon him to speak. Mr. Greer had received no inti- 
mation that a speech would be expected from him. He 
had been perfectly comfortable, talking with his neigh- 
bor through the breakfast, and evidently had swept his 
mind of all ideas and garnished it with the amiable 
nothings of table gossip; but he felt that he must do 
what his Bishop asked; so, concealing his dismay, he 



70 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

stumbled through a short speech which even those who 
loved him best thought as bad as possible. But his 
character was shown to the neighbor with whom he 
had been talking, in that, when he sat down, he made 
no excuse even to his friend, said nothing about the 
Bishop's folly in calling upon him without warning, 
and, when the speeches were over, went on simply with 
the friendly talk as if there had been no interruption. 
It all showed the man's humility and patience. 

As time went on and his fame grew, Mr. Greer, with 
his genuine simplicity and humility, was staggered to 
find that much was expected of him in private conver- 
sation. Phillips Brooks, in telling of a Sunday visit 
from Mr. Greer, said that on Saturday evening he had 
anticipated a feast of reason and a flow of soul, but, 
he added, "I couldn't get a word out of Greer." "Oh," 
said the friend to whom Brooks told the story, "you 
know Greer sits up nights with his reputation!" Dr. 
Brooks laughed, thinking it a jest; but it was sober 
fact, for Mr. Greer was really oppressed when he found 
how much people expected from him. Once, when he 
was on his way to the Commencement of the Theolog- 
ical School at Cambridge, at which he was to preach 
the sermon, a clergyman in the street-car, noticing that 
he was preoccupied, asked him if he was nervous about 
the sermon. "No," he said, "but I daresay some day 
I shall fail utterly; it may be today; I have done 
the best I could, and shall not care much if this 
is the end." Then he confessed, "I sweat blood every 



PROVIDENCE 71 

time I preach." He had brought no surplice, and 
asked Dean Gray to give him something to wear. The 
only surplice available did not fit him, but he wore it. 
However, surplices were of small moment for those 
who heard the sermon. When the time for the sermon 
came, he announced his text, "O send out thy light 
and thy truth." Dr. Steenstra said that doubtless 
Phillips Brooks was a greater preacher than Greer, but 
Brooks had never preached so great a sermon as that. 

One can imagine how friendships made in a Club like 
the Boston Clericus would develop into personal re- 
lationships. Mr. Greer from time to time "exchanged 
pulpits" with members of this Club. To the conser- 
vative he seemed radical, and the rector of the parish 
which he had visited would sometimes take exception 
on the following Sunday to the principles which Mr. 
Greer had presented. Once a vestry protested formally 
that Mr. Greer, in their rector's absence, had endorsed 
the theory of evolution. Thus the discussion of the 
Club went on beyond the doors of Dr. Brooks's study. 

Then there were the informal dinners which brought 
members of the Club together with other interesting 
people. The elder Mr. Hazard of Peace Dale invited 
President Porter of Yale and three members of the 
Club (namely, Dr. Wharton, Mr. Newton, and Mr. 
Greer,) to a feast, which was designed chiefly in the 
interests of philosophy. Dr. Wharton was spending 
his summer at Narragansett Pier, and drove President 
Porter, Mr. Greer, and Mr. Newton over to Peace Dale. 



72 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Mr. Newton suggested that the dinner was likely to 
be exceedingly serious, and threatened Dr. Wharton 
that if he did not "do his very best and was not 
brilliant with his inherent brilliancy, which surpassed 
at times the wit of Sydney Smith," he should feel com- 
pelled at the dinner to tell a certain absurd story about 
an English showman. Dr. Wharton, knowing that his 
friend was willing to go any length, was horror stricken, 
and said that it would never do to tell that story 
at Mr. Hazard's table. The agreement was made, that 
if conversation flagged, the signal for the story should 
be "Westminster Abbey." At the very first pause, Mr. 
Newton asked President Porter if he had visited West- 
minster Abbey during his recent visit to London, 
whereupon poor Dr. Wharton plunged into one of his 
most eloquent passages and no one had a chance to 
say a word. WTien again there was a lull, Mr. Greer 
was asked if he had visited Westminster Abbey lately, 
and once more Dr. Wharton was off. On the drive 
home, Dr. Wharton remarked that it was the most 
anxious dinner party he had ever attended. And Presi- 
dent Porter never heard the story. 

Mr. Greer was reticent about the intimate struggles 
in his own life, but when he was abroad in the summer 
of 1 88 1 he met a member of the Clericus Club in Gen- 
eva. He had been reading Supernatural Religion, the 
anonymous book, it will be remembered, which clev- 
erly marshalled the difficulties resulting from modern 
scientific inquiry and the criticism of the Bible and 



PROVIDENCE 73 

early Church history. Detached from his work, more 
or less isolated in the bleak grandeur of the nature 
all about him, he found himself, in the company of this 
book, in a crisis almost as severe as that of ten years 
before. He was miserably unhappy. He told his 
friend, in a burst of confidence, that he did not know 
what to do with this book. If it were true, and much 
of it seemed unanswerable, he felt that the roots of his 
faith were cut. The voice of his mother and the voice 
of the skeptic within him were contending for the mas- 
tery. A year later his turn came to read a paper before 
the Clericus. His subject was The Virgin Birth. The 
friend who had heard his lament in Geneva knew that 
in the meantime the battle had been fought. In the 
paper at the Clericus he stood boldly by the tradition, 
his argument being that a supernatural character 
would be born in a supernatural manner. When his 
friend expressed surprise, and recalled the conversa- 
tion in Geneva, Mr. Greer said that if the tradition 
were abandoned the whole history went with it. 

So far as one can see, the solution of his difficulty 
came, in 1881, as it came throughout his life. He was 
sure in his own experience of the power of the Living 
Christ. By his own experience he knew that the 
highest words ever spoken from the First Century to 
this about Jesus Christ failed to tell the fulness of His 
being and power. Evidently he discovered that the 
persistent questions about details were answered by 
this one supreme and all-embracing conviction. 



74 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

The two members of the Club whom he probably 
saw most often were Bishop Clark and Dr. Richards. 
Dr. Richards, sitting calmly in his study in the old 
rectory on Benefit Street, was always glad to see his 
younger brother, and often in days of perplexity Mr. 
Greer turned to his serenity and wisdom. Dr. Richards 
had been a classmate of Phillips Brooks in the Virginia 
Seminary. He was one of the few men who called 
Brooks by his Christian name. Once a year Brooks 
came down to St. John's Church to preach. At this 
annual feast of preaching, not only was the church 
filled with the people of Providence, but the chancel 
was filled with the clergy. At one of these services 
Brooks preached his famous sermon on The Seraphim: 
"Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his 
face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with 
twain he did fly." When the Clergy had withdrawn 
to the robing room. Dr. Richards broke the silence 
which showed the awe for the prophet: "Phillips," he 
said, "I wish Isaiah could have been here this after- 
noon; he would have rejoiced." Then Mr. Greer went 
up to the preacher, telling him how much he had been 
moved, so that Dr. Brooks was somewhat embarrassed, 
and seizing the large button which in those days held 
Mr. Greer's open surplice together, made no comment 
upon his praise, but said, laughing, "Greer, what do 
you wear that button for ! " No more praise was pos- 
sible after that from anyone, and what they thought 
about the sermon they carried away in their hearts. 



IV 

WHILE Mr. Greer was receiving this in- 
spiration from men, some of whom would 
have been accounted great in any com- 
munity, he was spending almost every evening with 
the thoughts of men in printed books. It was his 
custom to withdraw after supper to his study and there 
he would read late into the night. He read Darwin. 
His friends believed that there was nothing of Herbert 
Spencer's which he did not read: indeed when he was 
approached by Cornell University to be its Professor 
of Ethics he confessed that the one thing which at- 
tracted him was that it would give him an opportunity 
to "answer" Spencer. Huxley too he read voraciously: 
Huxley's frank agnosticism earned his respect even 
while he fought it with the simple faith which his 
mother had given him. Haeckel, with his brutal de- 
nials, fascinated him like a dangerous serpent: he must 
get his heel upon it. Tyndall among the scientists, 
Martineau among the theologians, Matthew Arnold 
among the critics, Lecky and Symonds among the his- 
torians. Browning among the poets, he read over and 
over. He would often say of Martineau. "He saved 
my soul." He went to Browning not only for poetical 
expression but for the subtle thought upon modern 

75 



76 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

problems. He was fond of George Eliot. Sometimes 
those who did not know Mr. Greer intimately felt that 
he spoke with too rapt enthusiasm over the last book 
which he chanced to be reading. This enthusiasm, 
however, was not the abiding enthusiasm of his reading 
days and nights. "What are you reading?" asked his 
neighbor, Julius Atwood. "Nothing but Carlyle," was 
the answer. He also exulted in the new voice 
which spoke up out of the unknown, he was glad to 
have a new witness for the truth as he saw it; but he 
always went back to the great men who seemed to him 
to have expressed the profoundest notes of the age, 
whether it were in science, theology, or art. It is re- 
membered that Phillips Brooks once said, "How 
brilliant Greer is; but in his bondage to his last book 
he shows the lack of a broad and liberal education." 
This is one of the generalizations which reveals more 
of temperament than of actual acquirement. Dr. 
Brooks had grown up in a university through which 
the free air of learning was continually blowing. Mr. 
Greer began his education in a sheltered place; the 
windows were kept shut. It is doubtful if in twenty 
years of active work the education of the one was not 
about equal to the education of the other. The re- 
serve of the man brought up in Massachusetts is dif- 
ferent from the reserve of the man brought up in West 
Virginia. The man from West Virginia, touched with 
the ardor of the west, is not afraid of making mistakes. 
He speaks frankly the enthusiasm of today without 



PROVIDENCE 77 

the embarrassing thought that he must hold to that en- 
thusiasm through the year. The man from Massachu- 
setts restrains his utterance lest he be called to 
endorse in December the joy he felt in July. 

After he had discovered that he could receive into 
his mind every atom of the new knowledge which he 
had tested and to himself proved true, without endan- 
gering that fundamental faith which he had received in 
the beginning; after Christ had become to him not 
more a leader of the past than of the present, Mr. 
Greer did exult in every book which looked boldly into 
the facts as science and criticism revealed them, and 
used those facts as the illustration of deeds of God 
illuminated by the Gospel of Christ. 



FOR THIRTEEN years of his ministry Mr. 
Greer invariably wrote his sermons and 
preached them from the manuscript. One 
who heard him at the height of his power might easily 
have imagined that his fluency was a native gift. He 
himself has declared that he was not fluent. Those 
thirteen years of patient writing, preceded by diligent 
study, must be remembered as a large part of the train- 
ing which made it possible for him at last to stand 
forth before the people, pouring out his words as if 
without effort. The written sermons did not lack elo- 
quence, but he was not satisfied. When he came back 
from his summer holiday in the fall of 1879 he 
preached as usual a written sermon. It seemed to him 
exceptionally poor, though he confessed that sermons 
were always poor when one was just back from a holi- 
day. So he determined the next Sunday morning to 
preach without notes. He selected as his text, "For- 
getting those things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before, I press 
toward the mark." The text was fitted to his experi- 
ment. Two or three vestrymen came into the robing 
room afterwards to give him courage, and bade him 
continue to forget the things which were behind. He 

78 



PROVIDENCE 79 

tried again and again, and, after that, rarely preached 
a written sermon. [To mark the transition in the out- 
ward symbols of the church, he installed a new pulpit 
which was nothing but a platform with a brass rail 
round it, and a small brass stand for a book. When 
he showed it with pride to Mr. Augustus Hoppin, the 
comment came instantly, "Where are the poker and 
the tongs!"] 

Whether his sermons were preached from manu- 
script or without the aid of a note, his preparation was 
always laborious. He himself tells the story of it: 

After I have found my subject I go to work, 
to think about and develop it, and I do my think- 
ing about it to some extent in words. I think 
with a pencil in my hand; and many of the 
thoughts as they come to me I try to express on 
paper, especially if at first they are not very clear. 
I try to make them clear by putting them into 
words and giving expression to them; and while 
I do not memorise that expression, I find that, in 
preaching, it often comes to me easily, naturally, 
and without any effort on my part to recall it. It 
is simply an instance of the mnemonic aid that 
is furnished by clear thinking. That, however, is 
but an incidental result, and my purpose in writ- 
ing, as far as I do write, is simply to make sure 
that I apprehend with distinctness the thought 
that is in my mind. And so I go through with my 



8o DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

subject, writing a little every now and then, some- 
times more, sometimes less, as the subject seems 
to require, not for the sake of the writing, but for 
the sake of the thinking, and the clearness of the 
thinking. Then, when I have got through with the 
subject, — no, I never get through with it until I 
preach it — it is in my mind to some extent all 
the time, not only when in my study, but at other 
times; I live with it more or less throughout the 
week, and it grows and develops in me, and be- 
comes a part of me, and more and more I have 
it, or more and more it has me. 

When Sunday morning comes, or Saturday 
afternoon or evening, I look over the notes or the 
writings, many or few, which I found it helpful to 
make in the tracing out or the clearing up of some 
of the thoughts of the sermon, in order to be sure 
that I have them, and then, without taking them 
with me, I preach. I do not even take the heads 
or outlines with me into the pulpit; I take nothing 
with me but the text. I tried the other plan at 
first, but it did not work well; it hindered me al- 
most as much as a manuscript did. I cannot tell 
exactly how or why it hindered me, but it did. It 
was, I presume, like trying to swim by having all 
the time one foot on the bottom, or one hand on 
a board; and I found that the better way, if ever 
I was going to learn to swim, was just to jump 
right in and swim — or sink. At all events, I did 




GRACE CHURCH, PROVIDENCE 



PROVIDENCE 81 

jump in, without anything to depend upon, and 
after a fashion — perhaps not a very good fashion, 
but still after a fashion — I have been swimming 
ever since, or preaching ever since without manu- 
script. I do not call it extemporaneous preaching, 
or memoriter preaching, — it certainly is not that, 
or not consciously that. I am not particular to 
call it anything except preaching without notes; 
and poor as the preaching may be, it is the best 
that I can do. 

Now I was not, and am not, naturally fluent in 
speech, nor do I possess the faculty above the 
average of thinking on my feet; but the little 
power in that direction which at present I possess, 
I have acquired by practice. 

Of course, with all other busy men who are true 
servants of the people, he was not always able to keep 
his own rules. He saw practically everyone who called 
upon him, and some days the procession seemed un- 
ending. One Saturday evening, Mr, Foster found it 
necessary to see him on a matter which could not be 
postponed. Mr. Foster apologized, and Mr. Greer con- 
fessed that up to that hour he had scarcely had a mo- 
ment all day for his sermon. "You don't seem 
worried," said Mr. Foster. "No," was the answer; 
"I have walked so many times on the edge of the preci- 
pice without falling off that no doubt I have become 
hardened." The sermon the next morning was long 



82 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

remembered as exceptionally good. The secret was 
that a preacher who constantly prepared himself week 
by week, could occasionally rely upon the prepara- 
tion of a lifetime. Mr. Foster also recalls that when 
he found his rector unwell one Monday morning, he 
said to him, by way of consolation, "I reached church 
yesterday just as you were finishing your sermon, and 
from the porch I could hear every word." Mr. Greer, 
with a steady look, said slowly, "Don't you know, 
Foster, that when men shout the loudest they have the 
least to say?" 

In his reading he was not trusting to memory: he 
was filling notebook after notebook with quotations, 
and often he was adding his own reflections, as his own 
thought reacted upon the thought he found in his 
books. Whenever he was in doubt about a subject on 
which he wished to preach he turned the pages of these 
books. He said that it was like pouring a dipper of 
water down a pump when it is dry and does not work: 
"it fetches the water, and the static fluid in the qui- 
escent pump is started and begins to flow," When 
these notebooks failed to start his mind upon a ser- 
mon for the coming Sunday, he would leave all his 
books behind him, put on his hat, and go out; not, as 
he said, "for physical exercise, though that perhaps 
would help, but for human exercise, for the exercise of 
his heart, his soul, his mind, in the midst of human 
life." He might go to see Bishop Clark, the magnet 
which drew many up the hill to George Street, to his 



PROVIDENCE 83 

yellow house with white facings (looking, as William 
Wilberforce Newton used to say, like an enlarged 
spongecake with sugar-coated decoration), and with 
the delicate little brass bell-pull which communicated 
to the hospitable interior of that simple dwelling; he 
might go to see Professor Diman in Brown University; 
he might go to see his old friend. Dr. Richards, in St. 
John's rectory; he might go to see a devout woman in 
a cultivated home; he might visit a poor man at his 
bench ; he might go to a house where there were many 
children and look into their eyes; and the trust and 
the friendship which he would receive he would bring 
into his study, and his subject for the coming Sunday 
would be given him. 

During the 'Seventies and 'Eighties, the two great 
preachers of the Episcopal Church in New England 
were undoubtedly Dr. Brooks and Mr. Greer. It is 
encouraging to remember that their hold upon the 
people was gained by the simplest, most direct preach- 
ing of the Gospel. Neither attempted to gain atten- 
tion by sermons upon economic, political, or social 
topics. They were not unmindful of the black spots 
in the city and the State, but they had the sublime 
faith, that if they could make their parishioners and 
all others who heard them devout disciples of Jesus 
Christ, they would be contributing most surely to the 
reforms for which they prayed. Though these two 
eminent preachers had this trait in common, Mr. Greer 
was often defending Christianity against the attacks 



84 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

or the indifference of such men as Huxley, Haeckel, or 
Herbert Spencer; while Dr. Brooks never disputed, 
but only assumed the truth of Christianity and illus- 
trated it. A good many young men in Harvard Col- 
lege, admiring Brooks to the utmost, often wished that, 
with his superb power, he would tackle a definite prob- 
lem, such as Prayer, and work it out before his congre- 
gation. Illuminating thoughts about prayer were in 
almost every sermon, but they were not coordinated 
and systematized. Many people on the other hand 
felt that it was the weakness of Mr. Greer's preaching 
that he often gave the impression that Christianity 
needed to be defended all the time. It so happened, 
however, that the people of Boston were deeply satisfied 
with the marvellous insight into the details of spiritual 
truth which Phillips Brooks was revealing to them Sun- 
day by Sunday; and with almost, if not quite equal 
satisfaction, the young and the old of Providence were 
rejoicing in their prophet. Sunday by Sunday, the 
young, who were facing the problems of the university, 
and the old, who were only dimly aware of the changes 
which were passing over the world, sat in the pews of 
Grace Church, with suppressed excitement, to discover 
in what way their dear friend and rector would lead 
them through the mazes of modern knowledge into the 
clearer faith of Christ. In theory, Mr. Greer did not 
believe it right to argue the principles of Christianity. 
He would assume them, and illustrate them out of the 
experience of the time. But he was too transparent 



PROVIDENCE 8s 

not to reveal to the people the warfare of faith through 
which he himself was passing. There was no doubt 
of the result in any sermon. Each sermon proclaimed 
a victory of the faith, — a faith not assumed but 
achieved. He preached a sermon once on Justification 
by Faith, and contended that what was meant by justi- 
fication was that faith justified itself in a man's life. 
A theological professor chanced to be present and 
scorned the sermon because of its bad exegesis. He 
wondered whether the preacher were ignorant or 
whether he were simply deliberately tampering with the 
Word. Another questioned his logic. Other critics ad- 
mitted that the sermon did not grow out of the text, 
but they knew that it was a great sermon. Uncon- 
sciously he was exemplifying what, he said, we have 
found in certain preachers who have moved us: 

What was the secret of their power? They 
may have been eloquent in the ordinary sense of 
the term or they may not have been. They may 
have been learned and scholarly, or they may not 
have been. Nor did we always agree, perhaps, 
with what we heard them say. And yet, some- 
how, they always managed to make us feel as 
though they had a personal message for us, — 
simply because it was their own personal message, 
a message which they themselves, in their deepest 
and innermost souls, had found and felt to be 
good, had found and felt to be true; and which, 



86 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

therefore, produced an echoing response in us. It 
may have been some truth which we already knew, 
some very familiar truth; and yet as the preacher 
preached it, it seemed like something new and to 
have in it something new. And it did have in it 
something new; it had the preacher in it. He had 
made the truth his own. He had wrought it out, 
or fought it out, and won it for himself, and it was 
like a piece of himself. He was not simply de- 
fining some article of the creed. He was not 
simply disclosing and making known "the faith 
once delivered to the saints," nor telling us what 
had been "always and everywhere and by all re- 
ceived." He was telling us rather what he, by his 
own living thought, by his own living experience, 
had made his very own. It was the travail of his 
soul, and we saw it, and felt it, and were satisfied. 

One could not listen to Mr. Greer without being im- 
pressed by his goodness. There was a simple piety 
radiating from his presence of which even the stranger 
could not fail to be aware. The constant theme of his 
preaching was Christ. Subdued enthusiasm was the 
reflection of the light which he himself was always 
seeing. He knew that as a preacher he must be an 
eye-witness of the truth as it is in Christ. With his 
own eyes, with his own mind, with his own heart, 
with his own soul, with his own moral and spirit- 
ual and intellectual nature he must see Christ. 



PROVIDENCE 87 

He could not preach if he were preaching Christ 
merely upon hearsay, however authoritative the 
testimony of others might be. He believed that 
when men asked for practical preaching it was 
personal preaching that they really desired. He 
believed that it mattered little what the particular sub- 
ject might be, whether it were the Doctrine of the 
Atonement or the immediate problem of how to for- 
give the injury done by a neighbor, if only the people 
who sat in the pews could be stirred and kindled as 
the preacher himself had been stirred and kindled by 
the light of his Master, Jesus Christ. Under such cir- 
cumstances, a subject which might seem upon the sur- 
face most remote, academic, and unpractical would 
become the most real, the most immediate, the most 
necessary for man's life today. 

He gave himself utterly. Dr. Richards told one of 
his curates that on going to the Providence station of 
a Monday morning, at five o'clock, to catch a train 
for a fishing excursion, he found his neighbor, Greer, 
wandering through the market square. "Why," said 
Dr. Richards, "what are you doing here?" "Oh," said 
Mr. Greer, "after preaching, I can't sleep. So I just 
got up and took a walk." 

To his regular parishioners whom he was teaching 
Sunday by Sunday, no sermon failed to bring profound 
help. But the critical stranger might easily on some 
Sundays have been disappointed. His friend, Dr. 
Richards, is remembered to have said, "You may hear 



88 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Greer preach three or four times and wonder why all 
the people are there to hear him; and then the fourth 
or fifth time you will hear him, and wonder why the 
whole world isn't there." He himself was more con- 
scious of the distance between his accomplishment and 
his ideal than he was of the fame which his sermons 
had achieved. One Monday morning a clergyman 
from Boston picked up a Providence paper, to see the 
large letters of the headline, "Monkey in Grace 
Church Pulpit." A monkey had broken loose from 
the Dime Museum, had run into Grace Church and 
perched itself on the edge of the pulpit. His friend 
made merry over the headline. Mr. Greer of course 
recognized the humor in the situation and felt no re- 
sentment. More than that, looking far away, and at 
once thinking of words spoken in that same pulpit, he 
said, with that gentleness and humility which those 
who knew him can never forget, "Yes, there was a 
monkey in Grace Church pulpit; and it wasn't the first 
time either." 

Both in the pulpit and with his children at home, 
he was frankly teaching the Bible as modern scholar- 
ship was beginning to interpret it. A reverent con- 
gregation accustomed to older expressions of the doc- 
trine of inspiration was sometimes baffled by the ways 
through which their rector was leading them ; but they 
trusted him. They knew his own faith in the Supreme 
Book of God's revelation, and week by week they came 
out into the clearer light of its understanding. 



PROVIDENCE 89 

His friends, knowing his history, sometimes thought 
that during these years in Providence two voices were 
speaking to him: the voice of the skeptic, and the voice 
of his mother with her simple Evangelical faith; and 
they were inclined to think that like Christian in Pil- 
grim's Progress, he put his fingers into his ears and 
ran away from his tormentors; but if I may intrude 
my personal testimony as a biographer, I should say 
that from the material at my disposal this was not true. 
The faith which a mother had taught him he had lived 
into his own life. If he seemed to take refuge in mani- 
fold good works for others it was simply that he might 
use himself for others as Christ knelt down even to 
wash the disciples' feet. A passage from his preaching 
will illustrate not only his own motive but the eloquent 
power of his message: 

Let your purpose be not to be ministered unto, 
but, as in the case of Jesus Christ, to minister to 
the human life about you. And how strangely 
and quickly will all the best forces of life give 
themselves to you, their beauty, their power, and 
become incorporated in you, become, as it were, 
you. They will take their crowns and crown you. 
They will lift you up and exalt you, and give their 
blessing to you, and will help to make you all that 
you are capable of becoming. Is it not the same 
great principle which we see operating everywhere 
else? "Serve me long and well," says Art; "be 



90 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

my minister first, and then some day you shall be- 
come my master." "Kneel low at my footstool 
with patient and reverent homage," says the king- 
dom of nature to the inquiring disciple, "and then 
some day you shall sit on my throne." 

And that is just as true of human nature as it 
is of inanimate nature. No man can reach the 
full stature of his personality except through 
others. Living alone and standing apart from 
others, he can never show what he is, "but only 
what he is not." He can only show, as someone 
has said, that he is not a friend, or acquaintance, 
or companion, or comrade, or neighbor; he exists 
for nobody; and presently, to his surprise, and 
generally to his horror, he will discover that he is 
nobody. The people about us today are not really 
other people, they are ourselves, in whom we be- 
come alive, and reach and find ourselves, in whose 
features, masked and disguised by suffering, and 
need, and ignorance, and foolishness, and want, 
we shall find, as the mask is lifted, the features of 
ourselves. 



VI 

As ONE would imagine Mr. Greer received, 
during his Providence rectorship, many 
calls to other churches, including St. Ann's, 
Brooklyn; St, Paul's, Cleveland; Trinity, Chicago; 
and St. Thomas's, New York. It was only when he 
received the call to St. Bartholomew's, New York, in 
1888, that he felt that the time had come to enter upon 
a new phase of his work. Representatives of the 
Vestry of St. Bartholomew's went to Providence in 
February, armed with the following letter: 

Diocesan House 
29 Lafayette Place 

New York, Feby. 17, 1888 

My dear Dr. Greer: 

I beg to introduce to you, Mr. William H. 
Appleton, Mr. George Kemp, and Mr. Cornelius 
Vanderbilt, a committee from the vestry of St. 
Bartholomew's Church, New York, who are em- 
powered to invite you to accept the rectorship of 
that parish. 

These gentlemen will be glad to give you any 
information in regard to the parish, and will also 

91 



92 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

inform you that the present Rector desires to be 
relieved of the rectorship so soon as his successor 
can be chosen. In case of your acceptance of this 
invitation, however, it will not be necessary for 
you to enter upon your duties until the autumn, 
unless you should otherwise elect. 

I need not tell you how much my own heart is 
in this call. I know you will want to do your best 
for Christ and His cause, and I believe that if 
you come to us we can give you a noble oppor- 
tunity to do so. 

I am, dear Dr. Greer, 

Faithfully and affectionately yours, 

H. C. Potter 
The Revd. 
D. H. Greer, D.D. 

Before the first of March, Mr. Greer had accepted 
the New York rectorship. Letters of regret came to 
him from his brethren in Massachusetts; letters of wel- 
come from his friends in New York, especially from 
Dr. Huntington, who five years before had left his 
beloved parish in Worcester and the Boston Clericus 
to serve Grace Church in New York. He wrote with 
a full understanding of what the change from New 
England to the metropolis must mean. One letter from 
the Boston group and one from the New York group 
will be sufficient: 



PROVIDENCE 93 

233 Clarendon Street 
Boston 

March i, 1888 
Dear Greer: 

The paper says you have accepted St. Bar- 
tholomew's. If so, then Godspeed! May the new 
life be as bright and useful as the old has been. 
I am deeply sorry that it will take you farther 
away from us, and that we shall hardly ever see 
your face. But you will not wholly forsake the 
humble and provincial friends of your boyhood, 
and we shall gratefully remember all that you 
have been to us, and we shall watch your later 
glory from afar and say, He once was ours! 
So may all blessings follow you. 
Faithfully your friend, 

Phillips Brooks 

I West Fifty-seventh Street 

March 26, 1888 
My dear Dr. Greer: 

I expect to sail for Europe with my family on 
the 31st, for an absence of four months, and regret 
that I cannot be here to greet you when you arrive 
in April. You will be, however, warmly welcomed 
by the church. I could not go without leaving 
a line to say how deeply I appreciate your accept- 
ance of our call, and how happy the congregation 



94 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

are that you are to be their Rector. There is no 
more promising field anywhere, and I believe that 
you will find its opportunities just what you de- 
sire. Your people will be most cordial and help- 
ful, and I am sure will do all in their power to 
make you thoroughly at home and satisfied with 
your new relations. For myself, I wish to assure 
you that I intend at all times in the future to do 
whatever may be in my power to assist you in 
your work and relieve you from care. 
With cordial regards and Good-bye, I am 

Yours sincerely, 
C. Vanderbilt 

For both Mr. Greer and the people of Grace Church, 
the breaking of the tie which bound them together as 
pastor and people was full of sorrow. Some of the 
letters, written to him then, and always kept by Mrs. 
Greer, tell the pathetic story which every rector knows 
who has gone from one loving parish to another. The 
letter of the Vestry, uncommonly free of convention- 
ality, shows what his years in Providence had meant 
to the people: 

Providence, March 2, 1888 
Rev. David H. Greer 
Dear Sir: 

The Vestry of Grace Church have received 
your note of February 29, announcing your ac- 



PROVIDENCE 95 

ceptance of a call to the rectorship of St. Bartholo- 
mew's Church, in New York, and tendering your 
resignation as rector of this parish. 

We learn with the deepest sorrow of your de- 
termination to sever a connection which has ex- 
isted for the past fifteen years, and which has con- 
tributed to the welfare of the church, the extension 
of its Christian work and influence, and to the zeal 
and enthusiasm of its members, to a degree un- 
paralleled in its history. 

We feel that in your departure, Grace Church, 
the Diocese of Rhode Island, and this whole com- 
munity will suffer a loss which can with difficulty 
be repaired, but we still believe that in each of 
these fields, the influence of your teaching and the 
zeal inspired by your example will enable us to 
carry on successfully the work which you have 
inaugurated. We cannot but regret the decision 
which takes you from us, but we acknowledge the 
absolute purity of your motives, and, putting aside 
all personal feeling, unhesitatingly accept and 
concur in the judgment at which you have arrived. 

We wish you Godspeed in your future work. 
Wherever you may go, the love, the deep sym- 
pathy, and the heartfelt prayers of the people of 
Grace Church will go with you. You have done 
a great and noble service for us. We believe you 
will do a like service for others, and we ask God 
to grant you the fullest measure of success. 



96 



DAVID HUMMELL GREER 



In accepting your resignation, we desire you 
to fix the date of your departure as may best con- 
form to your plans for the future. We shall be 
grateful for every added day that you can remain 
with us, but we leave the matter entirely with 
you. 

Your sincere friends, 

John B. Anthony 
Charles Morris Smith 



Wardens 



Edward A. Greene 
Jas. Lewis Peirce 
Stephen Brownell 
Geo. Edward Allen 
H. N. Campbell, Jr. 
Robert Knight 
Peleg W. Lippitt 
Rathbone Gardner 
Geo. W. Prentice 



Vestrymen 



He preached his last sermon in Providence on 
Trinity Sunday, May 27, 1888, upon the text, "The 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, 
and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you 
all. Amen." There was almost nothing to indicate 
to a stranger that it was his last sermon. He seemed 
to be trying to sum up the chief doctrines which he 
had taught his congregation. 



PROVIDENCE 97 

As Christian people [he said] it is our vocation 
to reproduce the life of Jesus Christ on earth, 
so that men may see — not away off yonder, in 
Galilee, nineteen hundred years ago, but here and 
now, in flesh and blood, before their very eyes, 
something like the spirit of Jesus Christ moving 
on the earth; to reproduce it in the society about 
us, in our social and political life. We must try 
not merely to be called by His Name but to have 
His spirit in our hearts, His deep sense of God, His 
broad and active and constantly flowing sympathy 
with men. His purity. His reverence, His courage 
under trial, in the presence of temptation and 
danger. That is not only the true Christianity; 
that is the true humanity. The ultimate aim of 
the Christian religion is the ideal excellence of our 
human existence in this world. Oh, men and 
women, believe in it; the Christian life and the 
human life are onel 

He added, as if he had not intended even to say so 
much: 

Those personal words which some of you pos- 
sibly may expect I cannot venture to say. From 
the bottom of my heart I thank you for all you 
have done for me, for all you have been to me and 
ever will be to me, and God bless you, and fare- 
well. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the 
Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. 



98 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Then he received the Holy Communion with the 
people. 

He was so unwilling to have the Providence min- 
istry close that he lingered for another Sunday. He 
asked Professor William Lawrence from the Theologi- 
cal School in Cambridge to come and preach for him 
while he looked again at his parishioners from the 
depth of the chancel. Bishop Lawrence has confessed 
that it was an uncomfortable task, but he was willing 
to do anything for his friend. At the last moment, as 
they were about to leave the rectory, he told Mr. Law- 
rence that he could not face the people again, and with 
characteristic simplicity he went to the service at the 
Orphanage, and said the Good-bye to the children 
which he did not dare to say to the people in the 
church. 



IV 

ST. BARTHOLOMEWS 



IV 
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 



DR. Greer* began his rectorship at St. Bar- 
tholomew's on the first Sunday of Novem- 
ber, 1888. The summer months of 1888 
were spent in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. (Here 
lived Mrs. Greer's mother, Mrs. Keith, a saint in face 
and character, and a saint without austerity, full of 
gentleness and charm.) He was trying to adjust him- 
self to the unknown future. Owing to the age and 
faifirmity of the retiring rector. Dr. Cooke, the church 
was at this time little more than a place of worship for 
the most devout on Sunday mornings. 

Mr. Atwood went to see him during this Bridge- 
water summer. To him Dr. Greer confessed, "I am 
afraid that I am going to make a failure of it; they 
call me an administrator, but I am no administrator. 
I saw Phillips Brooks the other day, and he asked me 
how I felt; and when I told him, Brooks replied that 

* Though Dr. Greer received the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
while he was in Providence, his Providence congregation always 
called him Mr. Greer, It was only in New York that he began to 
be called generally Dr. Greer. 



102 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

he had been for a long time in Trinity Church, and 
felt very much the same way, and was looking out for 
a younger man to assist him. And when we parted, 
I said, 'I hope that you will remember me, Brooks'; 
and he said, 'I hope that you will remember me, 
Greer.' " 

Dr. Greer, in his summer notebook, shows that he 
was thinking of the Sunday morning service. He 
planned to have notices of the service in the Saturday 
and Sunday papers. He wished strangers to under- 
stand that they would be welcome : he planned to have 
special attention shown to them when they came. He 
was going to urge the pewholders to show hospitality. 
He would request them to be present before the be- 
ginning of the service, that the ushers might know 
what seats would be vacant. He would have every 
seat free after the Venite. He would have benches at 
the doors for those who had no pews, that if they were 
obliged to wait they would not be obliged to stand. He 
would have a plain notice in the vestibule stating that 
strangers were welcome, that they would be shown 
seats as quickly as possible. Further, he would have 
a notice in front of the church proclaiming the name 
of the church, the rector, the hours of service, and 
again: "Strangers Welcome." 

Another page is taken up with notes about a pos- 
sible newsboys' club. He queried whether it would 
be wise to rent a house for them, with a woman in 
charge to make it seem like home. He made notes 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 103 

about the Girls' Friendly, the Mothers' Meeting, about 
Bible classes on Sunday. He wrote down the duties 
which he would assign to assistants. Among the notes 
for his first Sunday, he wrote that he must announce 
a conference of Sunday-school teachers to meet in the 
clubrooms the next afternoon at four o'clock. They 
must decide upon a series of lessons. His own sug- 
gestion was for a course on the Parables of Christ. 
They must decide whether the Sunday-school should 
be morning or afternoon, but he suggested among his 
notes that there should be a teachers' meeting at three 
o'clock on Sunday afternoon, Sunday-school at half 
past three, and a choral service at four. 

Then the book records the sermons which he might 
preach in the morning and in the afternoon. He jots 
down the titles of old sermons which he might preach 
again: some, because of the amount of material he 
had for them, he might divide into two, or possibly 
three sermons. He writes out quotations from Brown- 
ing, from Carlyle, from John Fiske, from Disraeli, from 
Symonds; and then follows page after page of his own 
thought. 

The book shows that when he reached St. Bartholo- 
mew's in the fall the fires were burning. 



n 



IT IS amusing to discover that the first year book 
which Dr. Greer issued in New York is practi- 
cally a duplicate of the last year book he issued 
in Providence. The Providence year book still re- 
mains, in which he crossed out Grace Church and sub- 
stituted St. Bartholomew's; in which he crossed out 
Providence and substituted New York; and in which 
he made all the other necessary changes in names and 
dates. Of course there is new mattter in the reports, 
but all that could be carried over into the new book 
was retained. This was characteristic of his whole life. 
Whenever he made a change from one successful work 
to another he always tried again what had succeeded 
in his former experience. He was essentially a con- 
servative. Later, the Bronx Church House was to be 
a reminiscence of the great parish house on Forty- 
second Street, and even when he came to the Cathedral 
he pined for a choir like the famous mixed choir of 
St. Bartholomew's. 

From a paper (the name of which is lost), there is 
a bit of anonymous correspondence, under the date of 
November 23, 1888: 

On Sunday, I went up to hear Dr. Greer, the 
new rector of St. Bartholomew's. For good and 
sufficient reasons the church was not reached till 

104 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 105 

about twelve o'clock, or time enough, say, to hear 
the ante-Communion service. The preacher then 
ascended the pulpit, calmly surveyed the congre- 
gation, and gave out the text in a voice so low, 
that I, in the back of the church, could not catch 
it. However, it was something about victory, 
and that victory over the lower world which comes 
through the truth and through the spiritual life. 
Next to sustaining the wants of the body the 
greatest value of material things was to provide 
things of a higher order, as libraries and books, 
art galleries and museums, and whatever minis- 
tered to the intellect. In this way, truth became 
a victorious, dominating power over the lower 
world. But there was an order of things which 
became more victorious still, and that was the 
higher life in man which might be touched and 
qualified by the Spirit of God, and which found 
its true being and abiding in the life of God, even 
as he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 
Here, then, was an ascending order, the higher 
victorious over the lower, and the highest of all 
through the redemption of the Son of God, su- 
premely victorious over everything that would 
drag it down. This was the idea, as nearly as one 
could apprehend it, and with a few words of ap- 
plication the preacher stopped. 

Well, there was only one drawback, and that 
was more especially when the preacher bore on the 



io6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

higher key. Then there was a certain roughness 
or thickness as compared with the tones in the 
middle register, which made hearing so far away 
something of an effort. As for the rest, every- 
thing was admirable. The manner was perfect — 
movement and force enough, and yet under such 
complete control. More admirable still, if pos- 
sible, was the quality of his thought, which was 
that of a Christian philosopher who had thought 
out the whole thing on the lines of right reason 
and had come at the essential truth, as we regard 
it; — a man combining head and heart in about 
equal proportions, together with common sense 
running through and through; intellectual, but not 
cold; emotional, but not effusive; eloquent, but 
not the vox et prcBterea nihil; authoritative, but 
not overbearing; self-respecting, but not vain; a 
self-contained, self-controlled, well-balanced, and 
shapely man in mind and body; carrying no lug- 
gage, going off on no tangents, up to no arts, as- 
suming no airs; a man who as an eloquent and 
effective preacher, leaving his manuscript behind 
him, is sure to stand second to no other in the pul- 
pits of this city. 

These words indicate the kind of preaching which 
Dr. Greer was to do in St. Bartholomew's. He had 
been preaching to a congregation among whom mem- 
bers of the University were rather prominently scat- 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 107 

tered. He had come to a congregation where the 
devout business man and his family were the typical 
members. This devout business man, in many cases, 
was not a college graduate, and even if he were, his 
thoughts were practical rather than intellectual. The 
volume of sermons which Dr. Greer published during 
his early ministry in St. Bartholomew's demonstrates 
the quick sensitiveness with which he adjusted himself 
to the new congregation. If one may judge by these 
sermons, the tendency to defend the Faith as some- 
thing which needed protection quite disappeared. 
They are profoundly religious, and they are eminently 
practical. He was telling men how they could walk 
with God today. He spoke of the Christian's attitude 
towards the theatre. He warned people against as- 
suming that their own way is so good that they need 
not seek God's way to replace it. As always, the en- 
thusiasm for Christ was dominant. 

The conception of a great social work on the East 
Side was forming in his mind; but worship, and the 
preaching which would interpret it, were his first 
thought: 

Why should not our church buildings be used 
more than they are. Looking at it simply from 
a commercial point of view, is it not a poor and 
inadequate return for the investment, to have 
them open only for two or three hours on Sunday, 
or for about one hundred and fifty hours out of 



io8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

the whole year? If I could do in this matter just 
what I should like to do, I would never close the 
churches except at night, when everything else is 
closed. I would keep them open always; not only 
on Sunday, but on every other day; and I would 
have some kind of service in them every day of 
the week ; not always perhaps a preaching service, 
but a service of some kind. 

It is natural therefore that when he reached out 
towards the East Side it was not first of all with im- 
plements of social betterment, but first of all with a 
Rescue Mission. For this he was fortunate in securing 
the leadership of Colonel Henry H. Hadley, a man who 
frankly told the wrecks before him that he himself had 
once been in the depths, but by Gk)d's grace now was 
free. Whatever he may have been at one time, all 
could see that he was now a saint; and the men took 
hold of his goodness and the goodness of His Master, 
and were saved. 

In talking to students, later, the rector said: 

I am interested in a Rescue Mission in New 
York and go there at times to speak to the men. 
A poor, forlorn, degraded, almost helpless and 
hopeless set of men they are. They have lost their 
character, they have lost their reputation, they 
have lost their self-respect, they have lost every- 
thing except their souls, or except that soul-in- 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 109 

stinct which, no matter how down-trodden, and 
buried, and covered up, is in every man, and never 
can be lost. I find it very hard to reach and 
touch these men. But there is a little woman who 
goes there sometimes, who was once a member of 
the Salvation Army, and whose words have much 
more power and effectiveness than mine. And to 
her they always listen with a rapt and eager 
listening; and often, as I have heard her talk, have 
I seen those hard, stolid faces lighten, and kindle, 
and glow, as though from beneath the rubbish 
their souls were coming out. But not only does 
she touch and move and quicken them, she also 
touches me as very few preachers do. Her theol- 
ogy is not mine; it is in some respects very dif- 
ferent from mine. Many of the things which she 
says seem to me to be puerile and crude; and 
when I come to think of them afterwards, I am 
sure I do not believe them, and could not believe 
them. But she believes them, and her whole per- 
sonality seems to be saturated with them, and to 
quiver and tremble with them; and the earnest- 
ness with which she speaks is not simulated and 
feigned, but most intensely real. And it is that 
real, unfeigned, and deep personal earnestness 
which touches me as well as others, and makes 
me more alive. 

Bishop Brent bears his testimony to the work done 
in the Rescue Mission: 



no DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

I first came into personal touch with Dr. Greer, 
who was then Rector of St. Bartholomew's, New 
York, about the year 1895. After hearing him 
preach in his church on a Sunday morning I went 
in the evening to his rescue mission on Forty- 
Second Street. He himself was there and spoke 
to the great meeting of dead beats and profligate 
sons with the same ease and apparent grip of the 
situation that he had with his own congregation 
in the morning. It was through him and his mis- 
sion that we succeeded in getting a man who him- 
self had plumbed the depths to start a similar 
work for us in Boston, which has had an enviable 
career and has been closed recently in that the 
clientele seems to have vanished since the enact- 
ment of prohibition. 

Bishop Lawrence has only recently borne his testi- 
mony to the far-reaching results of this Mission: 

I know one besotted man who entered this Res- 
cue Mission over twenty-five years ago; he was 
redeemed; and that man with his faithful wife has 
for twenty-five years been appealing to, working 
with, and by God's Spirit redeeming men in our 
Church Rescue Mission in Boston. Think of it, 
almost every evening for a quarter of a century 
passed in this work: the patience, the hope! In 
such work Greer's soul goes marching on. 



Ill 



As DR. GREER came in contact with the 
poor on the East Side, and as he looked 
into the faces of his comfortable par- 
ishioners on Sunday mornings, he knew that he must 
in some way bring the two groups more intimately to- 
gether. The parish as a parish was not reaching out 
to the people who lived only a few blocks away. As 
a parish, St. Bartholomew's was not worried because 
the tenement houses were unhappy and dangerous 
places for people to live in. Mr. Cornelius Vander- 
bilt, who, at the beginning, pledged to Dr. Greer the 
utmost support, stood ready to fulfil his rector's 
visions, and with him stood his mother, Mrs. William 
H. Vanderbilt, who, as long as she lived, always gave, 
with her son, an equal amount, so that they acted to- 
gether in support of the new plans. Others of course 
helped with generosity; but these two parishioners, 
who had both the wealth and the will to use it, were 
preeminent. 

While Dr. Greer therefore was rector of St. Bar- 
tholomew's he seemed to have no financial problem, 
for, when Mr. Vanderbilt died, in 1899, his example 
had so far inspired others, and the work was so firmly 
established in the confidence of the congregation, that 



112 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

they would not suffer it to fail. But he did not know 
this; and each year he worked very hard to raise the 
great sums necessary. Even with his faith, he could 
not help being anxious. And he was genuinely sur- 
prised year by year, when the money poured in. He 
did not see how it could be done again. As long as 
Mr. Vanderbilt lived no reasonable plan could be sug- 
gested to him that did not instantly gain his powerful 
support. The church was enlarged and beautified soon 
after the new rectorship began; for this purpose the 
whole congregation gave bountifully. 

The great vision before the new rector was a parish 
house on East Forty-second Street, which should open 
its doors with Christian friendship to all who passed 
by, of whatever race or faith. This house was a gift 
to the parish by Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt and her 
son, Cornelius. When it was done, it covered seven 
city lots, it rose to nine stories, and its floor space 
measured three and one half acres. It was set apart 
by Bishop Potter, Monday evening, November 23, 
1 89 1, when addresses were made not only by the 
Bishop of the Diocese, but by the rector, and Mr. 
Chauncey M. Depew. It had not then reached its 
full size for the building was afterward enlarged. Mrs. 
Hoagland gave the Clinic in memory of her husband; 
this was added directly to the building in Forty-second 
Street. Then came a boarding-house for girls; a 
working-girls' summer home in Washington, Connect- 
icut; and a children's home at Pawling. A few years 




O 

Z 

w 

to 
O 



o 

»j 
o 
ac 

H 

Oi 

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CQ 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 113 

later Dr. Greer described what was contained in this 
vast equipment: 

We have in St. Bartholomew's Parish a good 
many departments of parochial activity. We have 
not only our Sunday-schools, and missionary so- 
cieties, and benevolent societies, but a Swedish 
mission, and a Chinese mission, and an Armenian 
mission, and a Syrian mission, and a lodging 
house, and a loan bureau, and an employment 
bureau, and a coffee house, and a penny provident 
fund, and a girls' club, and a boys' club, and a 
men's club, and a gymnasium, and a parish press, 
and a kindergarten, and a surgical clinic, and a 
medical clinic, and an eye and ear clinic, — as 
well as all the ordinary activities which every 
thriving parish includes. 

He spoke more specifically of the Loan Bureau: 

In our Loan Bureau, we lend money in small 
amounts, of from ten to two hundred dollars, ag- 
gregating about fifteen hundred dollars a week, 
charging a fair rate of interest, and taking as se- 
curity a mortgage upon the furniture and house- 
hold goods of the borrower. I believe in that 
form of benevolence and think that it does great 
good. It is particularly needed in a city like New 
York. And St. Bartholomew's parish was able 
in part to supply that need, and does supply it. 



114 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

He received letters from all over the world, asking in- 
formation about the various activities carried on in 
the Parish House. The most insistent inquiries con- 
cerned the Loan Bureau. 

Miss Rapallo writes of Dr. Greer's joy in the Parish 
House: 

I recall first one snowy day, a furious storm 
was raging. I had gone over to the Parish House 
to do some neglected work, and was up in the 
Girls' Club, when the elevator boy came up bring- 
ing an old woman, who had come in for shelter, 
and to ask for a pair of shoes, as her feet were 
almost on the ground. While we were talking 
Dr. Greer came up. He had made his way over 
through the storm to see that all was right at the. 
Parish House. The clothing bureau was closed 
and I went into an inner room where I kept some 
clothing stored away, to see if I could find any 
shoes. When I came back Dr. Greer was pulling 
off his goloshes and giving them to the woman. 
This was very characteristic, for his first thought 
always on hearing of any distress was, "What can 
I do to relieve it?" 

One very marked trait, it seems to me, was his 
power of memory and of individualizing people. 
The Girls' Club during these years was very large, 
numbering at times nearly two thousand members 
and I think the greater part of the girls felt that 
they knew Dr. Greer personally, and what is 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 115 

more, that he knew them personally. He certainly 
did know a very large number, many of them by 
name. He would sometimes talk over some girl's 
troubles, and advise me in some difficulty and then 
months afterward remember the circumstances 
and ask me how so and so turned out, and what 
I had done about such a thing. 

It was our custom each year to have Quarterly 
Meetings, when all the members would come to- 
gether in the large hall. The great event of these 
evenings was Dr. Greer's address. Some of his 
strongest and most inspiring addresses were made 
at these meetings. As an instance of what an im- 
pression they made upon the girls, I remember 
receiving a letter from one of our members, who 
was ill, and was at Saranac, in which she quoted 
a sentence from Dr. Greer's last Quarterly Meet- 
ing address which one of her friends, who was 
present, had written up to her, and which had 
greatly impressed her. Dr. Greer never missed 
one of these meetings, I think literally, not more 
than three or four during the fifteen years I was 
at St. Bartholomew's. One of the meetings fell 
in August and each year he came up from East 
Hampton or wherever he happened to be, to be 
present. This necessitated his spending the night 
in the hot city, but he knew the eager crowd of 
girls who were waiting for him, and would not 
disappoint them. 



ii6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

A short time ago a notice was put in the paper, 
telling of the cottage which it is planned to build 
at Hope Farm in memory of Bishop Greer and I 
received a most touching letter from one of the 
old St. Bartholomew's girls, enclosing a check for 
ten dollars and saying that she wished to be one 
to contribute to this memorial as she could never 
express how much Dr. Greer and St. Bartholo- 
mew's Girls' Club had meant to her in her 
life. She has sent me checks many times since 
then to be used for Hope Farm in memory of 
Dr. Greer. 

One other incident occurs to me of a different 
nature. In all the years of my relationship with 
Dr. Greer, I only once heard him lose his temper 
or speak harshly. On this occasion the elevator 
boy had spoken rudely to some woman who was 
getting on the elevator, not seeing Dr. Greer be- 
hind her. I should not like to have been that 
elevator boy! This only serves to emphasize how 
very self-controlled he usually was. I have seen 
him under most trying circumstances, when I 
knew he was tired out and very nervous, but never 
but this once saw him give way, or heard him 
speak crossly. 

To Dr. Greer the Parish House was a real joy 
always. He would wander over to it after his 
hours, when he had been seeing all kinds of people 
and facing all kinds of problems, trying to lift or 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 117 

carry everybody's burden, or giving help or advice 
until he was tired out mentally and physically. 
He would come in to the Parish House and drop 
into a Mothers' Meeting or step in and watch the 
children's calisthenic class or stop to talk with 
one of the workers, and always find interest and 
pleasure in the life and work going on there, and 
go away refreshed. 

His method in developing any new parochial ven- 
ture was to search diligently for the right person to 
take the responsibility for it. Though he would an- 
nounce that he meant to avoid doing anything himself 
which he could get another to do this rule was not al- 
ways kept. In the background of his mind, as he made 
every parish call, was the thought, "What will this 
person be fitted for?" and then, when he had decided, 
he would go directly to that person with the beguiling 
invitation, "Here is something definite for you to do." 
He had a wholesome horror of clergymen who were 
simply "busy." He disliked fussiness. He felt that 
his function was that of a leader who could inspire 
others to carry out his plans, and as he examined the 
characters of the people, the thought came to him from 
time to time that here or there was a person fitted to 
do a work which had not hitherto been undertaken. 
His problem therefore was double. Here is something 
to do: who shall do it? Here is someone capable of 
doing something new: what shall it be? In a way, his 



ii8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

parish house was the laboratory where he could dis- 
cover whether his preaching had been effective in the 
hearts of the people. 

The criticism of enormous parish houses connected 
with city churches arose very early. A great deal of 
the work done at St. Bartholomew's was purely secu- 
lar. There was a Sunday-school of eight hundred, and 
the Chapel services were always well attended; but 
the growth in the Chapel on Sundays did not keep 
pace with the throngs in the Parish House on week- 
days. A good many of the people undoubtedly went 
to their own churches: many, so far as one could tell, 
received what the parish house could do for them in 
a material or physical way, and apparently gave noth- 
ing to God or man in return. Dr. Greer himself felt 
the force of the criticism and attempted to meet it: 

We hear the fear expressed in some quarters 
today that the minister of Jesus Christ is giving 
too much of his time to the development in his 
parish of secular works and activities, and is him- 
self in danger of becoming secularized. Instead 
of devoting so much of his energy and strength 
to the starting of guilds and clubs, and coffee 
houses, and gymnasiums, and dispensaries, and 
kindergartens, and day nurseries, and loan- 
bureaus, and employment bureaus, he should, it 
is said, confine himself more strictly to his proper 
work, which is the work of preaching the Gospel. 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 119 

Now, if this criticism simply means that the work 
of preaching the Gospel is for the Christian min- 
ister the first and paramount work, then I accept 
and endorse it; for that is what I believe. And if 
the doing of those other things to which I have 
referred interferes with his preaching, then in my 
judgment he should not try to do them. If he 
cannot do both, let him not try to do both, but 
only to do the one which is in importance first. 
But if the criticism means or implies that in doing 
those things in his parish which are commonly 
called "secular" he is not doing things which are 
in reality religious, then it seems to me that the 
criticism is not well taken, and is calculated to 
give a conception of religion which impoverishes 
and enfeebles it, and makes it so much less sub- 
lime than what it really is or what it was meant 
to be. For religion, according to the Christian 
conception of it, does not mean to have the con- 
sciousness of God in some particular places, or 
in some particular things. That is the pagan con- 
ception of religion, that God is in places and 
things, — lo here, lo there! But our religion is 
better than that, and means to have the conscious- 
ness of God in all places, and in all things. With 
that consciousness of God all duty is sacred duty; 
all service is sacred service; all life is sacred life. 

It is only fair to say that nothing with which Dr. 
Greer had to do could lack the spiritual note. There- 



120 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

fore, in so far as this justification affected the people 
of the mother church on Madison Avenue, it is alto- 
gether valid. Those of us who have had to do with 
parochial life in New York might ask seriously, if 
the work which was so markedly valuable for the par- 
ishioners on Madison Avenue were as valuable for the 
kingdom of God to the people ministered to in the 
Parish House on East Forty-second Street? No New 
York parish which has done institutional work would 
probably be satisfied with the results so far as human 
intelligence can measure them. Experience has demon- 
strated one or two principles which must be obeyed 
if the Church is to do with its parish settlements what 
will best serve the people. The first of these prin- 
ciples is outward and symbolic. Most of us I think 
will agree that in every church settlement a building 
which is obviously a church, and made as beautiful as 
art can make it, should dominate the group. The 
second principle is that people who come to the so- 
called secular gatherings and clubs should understand 
quite clearly that the Church is longing to develop not 
so much their bodies and their minds as their charac- 
ters and their souls. Another lesson which is coming 
out of our experience is, that while we wish to do good 
unto all men, we should not allow the leaders of any 
religious body to gain 'the impression that we are will- 
ing to do the social work for them while they give their 
whole attention to what they call the spiritual side of 
their people. Minds, bodies, and souls belong to- 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 121 

gether, and we may hope that every religious organiza- 
tion will ultimately care for the whole life of its 
members, in so far as there is need. More and more, 
if great parish houses survive, still greater churches 
will spring up beside them; and if there be no more 
room on the church property the church will be en- 
larged at the expense of the parish house. 

In the last years of the Nineteenth Century, three 
great New York parishes were launching out upon a 
huge experiment, St. George's, Grace, St. Bartholo- 
mew's. The emphasis varied. Taken altogether, thou- 
sands of people if they could be asked their testimony, 
would bear witness to the help which the parish house 
in each of these churches has brought to them. Those 
whose visions and gifts are responsible for the creation 
of the modern parish house, would say, could they 
speak to us, that though they rejoice, they are not sat- 
isfied. But, as they would not fear criticism, neither 
would they minimize the actual results. The Church 
must always have the genius, being the great poet it 
is, to devise things new; it must have the supreme 
genius, being the greatest of poets, never to be con- 
tent till what was beneficent to the people yesterday 
has been changed into the best means of service which 
God will show us for today. The Church has gone 
ahead by its courageous contempt of possible failures, 
and by daring to do what only the Spirit of God can 
bring to victory. 



IV 



DR. GREER had barely started his venture 
with the parish house when he was called 
to succeed Phillips Brooks as rector of Trin- 
ity Church, Boston. The call came on the first day 
of June, just twenty-one years after another Boston 
parish, St. Paul's, had heard him preach and had de- 
cided that he was not adequate to a Boston rectorship. 
It was the most significant recognition which could 
come to a preacher; for Phillips Brooks had made the 
pulpit of Trinity Church the chief pulpit of the Eng- 
lish-speaking world. The call could not fail to attract 
him. Dr. Parks, then rector of Emmanuel Church in 
Boston, expressed the thoughts passing through his 
own mind: 

I know how many things there will be to hold 
you to your great work, but I write this line to 
call your attention to one fact, and that is, that 
Trinity Church, Boston, is the greatest pulpit in 
this country, and that the man who stands there 
has an advantage not to be found elsewhere 2is far 
as I know. 

No one, who does not live here, can really know 
what a place it is. There is quiet and thoughtful- 
ness enough to make it certain that the Word 
spoken will not instantly be drowned in the noise 

133 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 123 

of the machinery of life. I need not tell you how 
glad I would be to have you here and to know 
that the traditions of the place were living, yet 
different, with the difference of a new personality. 

Dr. Greer took several weeks to decide where his 
duty lay. The letter which naturally meant most to 
him was from Phillips Brooks himself, who, in reply 
to a letter from Dr. Greer, wrote of his own hope: 

233 Clarendon Street 

Boston 

,-. J ^ June 10, 1892 

My dear Greer: ^ 

Your letter puts me in a flutter of enthusiastic 
hope! • If you can come to us, the future is indeed 
very bright. More than Trinity has ever done, 
more than any church of ours has ever begun to 
do in Boston, you can do, if you will give these 
next twenty years to the people who have called 
you, and their children and children's children. 

I need not tell you that the call has been given 
most unanimously. It would have been given long 
ago if they had dared: only now have they gath- 
ered courage to ask you : but if you will come you 
will find them eager and ready to work with you 
m most faithful and affectionate cooperation. 

Do come and look at them. I sail for Europe 
on Saturday, the i8th. I leave here on the even- 
ing of Friday, the 17th. Wednesday, the 15th, is 



124 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Commencement and Ordination day at Cam- 
bridge. On the evening of that day, and most of 
Thursday and all of Friday, I am free, — will you 
not come and see me? Or shall I come and see 
you? 

If Mr. Paine, who is an old friend of mine, and 
the most energetic vestryman of Trinity Church, 
should ask us to spend the night of Wednesday 
with him at Waltham, close to Boston, and you 
could do it, it might be well, as you and I could 
have plenty of time for private talk, and you could 
also see what sort of spirit the Vestry are of. 

I cannot tell you, my dear friend, what great 
delight it would give me or how it would brighten 
my declining years! 

May the good God send you to us. 
Yours most affectionately, 

Phillips Brooks 

Dean Lawrence wrote from Cambridge that every- 
one hoped he would come to Trinity; but was hoping 
against hope. Dr. Greer had been in St. Bartholomew's 
only four years. He had just persuaded the congre- 
gation to undertake the parish house: two trusting 
friends had built it for him. No one knows what he 
might have done had the conditions been different. As 
the conditions were, he knew before the month of June 
was over that his answer would be No, and therefore 
he wrote to the Wardens: 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 125 

St. Bartholomew's Rectory 
342 Madison Avenue 

Messrs. Charles H. Parker 

Charles R. Codman, 
Wardens, Trinity Church. 
Gentlemen: 

My delay in giving a positive answer to your 
communication of June i, inviting me to the rec- 
torship of Trinity Church, Boston, has been occa- 
sioned by the difficulty I have experienced in 
reaching a right conclusion. Seldom indeed have 
I been called upon to decide a question which 
seemed so evenly balanced. I have felt that to go 
to Boston and try as best I could to maintain the 
noble traditions of Trinity Church, would be a 
great and inspiring privilege, and that I could ask 
for nothing better or pleasanter; and yet when 
it came to the point of leaving my present work, 
so many difficulties immediately rose up before 
me that I seemed to have no option in the matter; 
and the longer I thought about it the clearer did 
it beconie that I must remain where I am. And 
that is the decision which I am now constrained 
to give you. To say that I am sorry hardly ex- 
presses the way I feel; for my heart is strongly 
drawn towards Trinity; and yet my sense of duty 
seems to tell me just as strongly that I must stay 
at St. Bartholomew's. 



126 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Assuring you again of my grateful appreciation 
of your confidence in me, and praying that God 
may guide you in the selection of one who will 
not be unworthy of your noble parish and its late 
distinguished rector, believe me, with sincere re- 
gard. 

Very truly yours, 

Greenwich, Conn. David H. Greer 

June 22, 1892 

Dr. Greer had told his decision to Bishop Brooks, 
who wrote from London, where the news reached him 
in July. It was the last July he was to spend on earth: 

London, July 5, 1892 
Dear Greer: 

I was afraid so! And yet I dared to hope! 
Perhaps it was too much to ask that anyone should 
see our Boston just as we seem to see it, and very 
likely we have over-valued the importance of the 
work there. 

At any rate you did not scorn us ! — and I like 
to believe that there was some chance at one time 
that you might even have decided to come. I 
must not allow myself now to think about what 
it would have been to all of us if you had so de- 
cided. What it would have been to me I cannot 
tell you. We would have taken sweet counsel to- 
gether and walked in the House of God as friends, 
wouldn't we? 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 127 

I am sorry for New York that she has lost the 
blessing which your coming to Boston would have 
brought to her. It would have startled her with 
the new grace of humility. Now I am afraid she 
only gives a careless chuckle, and goes her way 
without giving any more thought to the idiotic 
impertinence of Boston. 

Well, my dear fellow, may you be ever abun- 
dantly happy, wherever you are, and may the 
Lord's blessing be bountiful upon your work. I 
hope you will sometimes remember with some 
pleasure that we wanted you. Indeed we did; 
and would have given you a true heart's welcome 
had you come. But there is no comparison and 
no rivalry of works. It is all good, wherever we 
are set to do it, — and, dear me ! how fast it goes, 
and how soon it will all be over! 

I thank you for all the kind words of your 
letter, and I am, as you know well enough. 

Yours most affectionately, 
Phillips Brooks 

A year later, such influential clergy and laity in 
Massachusetts asked him to give his consent to be 
nominated as Phillips Brooks's successor as Bishop of 
the diocese, that it seems quite certain that he might 
have been elected. One letter is t3^ical of the many 
letters which he received: 



128 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

1 01 Brattle Street 
Cambridge 

March 7, 1893 
My dear Greer: 

You have no idea of the deep satisfaction it has 
given us here at Cambridge to learn that we are 
to have the opportunity to vote for, and, we are 
confident, elect you. Bishop of Massachusetts. 

I believe that we can understand your sense of 
obligation towards the work in New York and 
towards those who have supported you. Yet 
Massachusetts is in a blind condition of thought 
and life, as you well know, as far as the position 
of the Episcopal Church is concerned. And a man 
who can take up the work where Brooks left it, 
and who has, as you have, the personal power to 
bring our Church before the whole people, will do 
the work of generations. 

The very fact that Brooks has led will give 
you a more sympathetic and enthusiastic backing 
and a wider field of work. 

Pardon the liberty of my suggestion, but you 
are the one man to whom we are turning. I am 
not in ecclesiastical politics, but whenever your 
name has been mentioned in my hearing it has 
been heartily received. 

Grosvenor of Lenox, a graduate of Berkeley, 
happens to be in my study as I write, and speaks 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 129 

enthusiastically of yourself as the man for Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Yours with much regard, 
William Lawrence 

P. S. 

I have just read this to Grosvenor, who says 
that he endorses every word, and wishes to be re- 
membered to Mrs. Greer and yourself, as do I. 



He was deeply moved; but the same reasons which 
held him back before, held him back still. He had 
not passed five years as rector of St. Bartholomew's, 
and the parish house experiment was still in its in- 
fancy. He was so sure that he could not accept the 
call if it came to him that he begged his friends not 
to allow his name to be used. In his letter to Mr. 
Rousmaniere (who was the spokesman for a large 
group of Clergy), explaining the reasons for this de- 
cision, he added a postscript: 

I have read this letter to Bishop Potter, and he 
has requested me to ask you not to say anything 
about it for a few days. What good there can be 
in that I do not know. I think the Bishop favors 
Massachusetts, and is desirous of having me in the 
House of Bishops. Perhaps he thinks he can suc- 
ceed in making me see that side of it a little more 
clearly and strongly. 



130 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

But the letter was sent. His mind was unchanged. 
He said to Mr. Atwood, "If I had been elected and felt 
that it was the call of God, I should have gone; but I 
could give only one answer to a caucus." Dr. Richards, 
his counsellor in Providence, wrote his approval : 

My dear Greer: 

You haven't asked my opinion, so I offer it! I 
want to congratulate you on your decision as to 
Massachusetts. You are absolutely in your niche 
now and any change would be an experiment. 
There are few men more precisely suited to their 
posts than you to the charge of a parish in New 
York like St. Bartholomew's. I felt so when you 
left here, and everyone feels so about you now. I 
much doubt if Boston would have suited you. I 
don't say that you would not have suited Boston. 
Massachusetts is the quintessence of New Eng- 
land, and I had half a fear that you would fancy 
you knew New England by your knowledge of 
Rhode Island. Nothing could be less true. Rhode 
Island might easier introduce you to New York 
or Ohio or Virginia than to Massachusetts. So 
I am heartily glad for you that the mitre has not 
dazzled you. This is unselfish in me, for Boston 
is only one hour distant, and New York five. 

Gus Hoppin's prophetic soul must be grieved! 

Ever yours, 
C. A. L. R. 



DR. GREER'S influence was felt far beyond the 
bounds of his own Communion. When the 
citizens of New York, irrespective of ecclesi- 
astical affiliation, wished to express their admiration 
and affection for Phillips Brooks, and gathered in 
Music Hall to hear speeches, by Rabbi Gottheil in be- 
half of the Jews, Mr. Joseph H. Choate in behalf of 
Bishop Brooks's contemporaries at Harvard College, 
Dr. Storrs in behalf of the Presbyterians, Dr. J. R. 
Day in behalf of the Methodists, Father Ducey in be- 
half of the Roman Catholics, and Dr. Lyman Abbott 
in behalf of the Congregationalists, Dr. Greer was 
chosen to preside and to make the opening address. 
How penetrating Dr. Greer's influence had become is 
further shown by the fact that at Archbishop Corri- 
gan's funeral, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in May, 1902, 
he acted as one of the special guard of honor. 

In the year 1895, Dr. Greer delivered at Yale the 
Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching, taking for his 
subject. The Preacher and His Place. The printed 
lectures reveal not only his method but his inner spirit. 
Where all is excellent it is difficult to select a single 
passage, but his words upon the relation of a sermon 
to other messages coming from God will show his sym- 

131 



132 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

pathetic attitude towards all who try to do good in 
the Name of the Lord: 



The tendency of civilized society is a tendency 
towards specialization; and the specialized task 
of the preacher is not to try to preach all the truth 
which God has revealed (though it is all true, and 
God has revealed it), but to preach that truth 
which God has revealed in Jesus Christ; and the 
less he has to do with the preaching of what is 
called scientific truth, the better, I think, will it be 
for both the preaching and the science. His 
preaching will be touched or affected more or less 
by that scientific truth. It cannot help being af- 
fected by it. And more or less incidentally and 
collaterally and as a kind of side light it will show 
itself in his preaching. But he is not, in my judg- 
ment, and as I interpret his office, called upon to 
preach it, any more than he is called upon to 
preach against it. He is called upon chiefly to 
preach the truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ; 
and through his own personal absorption and as- 
similation of it to make that truth a power in the 
lives of those who hear him. That is his special 
task, and that is task enough, — hard enough, 
great enough, sublime enough to tax him to the 
utmost, and to give him employment enough. And 
yet, while performing the task of preaching the 
truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ, let him not 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 133 

forget that there is other truth, and that there 
are other teachers of truth. Is his task sacred? 
So is theirs. Is his truth revealed? So is theirs. 
Is he a minister of God? So are they. Is he a 
prophet of God? So are they. And the work 
which they do is religious work, as the work which 
he does is religious work; because it is not chiefly 
the work which is done by them, but the work 
which is done by God through them. 

Instead, therefore, of making a distinction be- 
tween sacred truth and secular, let us claim all 
truth as sacred, because all truth is God's, and 
comes from God, and is doing God's work in the 
world. 

It is impressive to discover that while in the early 
'Nineties his critics were forecasting the loss of his 
prophetic power in the management of the vast parish 
house, he read at a monthly meeting of the American 
Institute of Christian Philosophy, in May, 1893, a 
paper on Auguste Comte and Postivism. At the end 
of the long paper is the conclusion which he reached at 
every turn of his life: 

In the meantime, we can say to the Positivist, 
as to all who are looking for One who is worthy 
of worship and capable of inspiring it, it is not 
necessary to invent Him at all, but simply to be- 



134 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

hold Him; yes, to behold Him, who, in the lan- 
guage of Richter, "holiest among the mighty and 
mightiest among the holy," has lifted with his 
pierced hands empires off their hinges, turned the 
stream of centuries out of its channel, and still 
governs the ages. 

He was continually called upon to represent the 
spirit of the Church Universal at various dinners and 
meetings, which, for the most part, had some secular 
end in view, such as the honor to be paid to some visit- 
ing ambassador, the interests of the Chamber of Com- 
merce, or the loyalty of New England to its ideals. He 
was a charter member of the Provident Loan Society, 
which is a society organized to lend money on pawns 
and pledges. For several years he was chaplain of the 
Seventh Regiment. He resigned this chaplaincy at the 
time of the Spanish War, finding that he could not con- 
scientiously leave his work in New York to accompany 
the Regiment.* 

♦St. Bartholomew's Rectory 
342 Madison Avenue 

June I, 1898 
Dear Colonel Appleton: 

After a very careful and conscientious consideration of the matter, 
I have reached the conclusion that I am not free to go with the 
Regiment into the service of the Government without serious detri- 
ment to very important interests, both material and moral, which 
have been committed to my keeping, and for which I am respon- 
sible. If it were a question of personal sacrifice I could easily and 
quickly decide it, and it would be in that case a privilege and pleas- 
ure to go with the Regiment whidi I have learned to esteem and 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 135 

Associated Charities in other cities often appealed 
to him to come, and, from his experience, tell how best 
to help the poor. He preached the annual Botanical 
sermon in St. Louis in 1902. He was intensely inter- 
ested in Helen Keller, and did much to make it pos- 
sible for her and her teacher, Miss Sullivan, to continue 
their demonstration of what could be done for a child, 
dumb, deaf, and sightless, and of what a child so helped 
could do. 

Wrentham, Mass., June 21, 1898 

My dear Dr. Greer: 

If you only knew how often, and how sincerely 
I have thanked you in my heart for the little boat, 
which has given me so much pleasure, I am sure 
that my long delay in writing would not seem to 
you like ingratitude. 

I go out in my boat oftenest when the sky is 
filled with soft rosy clouds, that seem to float 
through the depths of our lovely lake, "like heav- 
enly thoughts through a peaceful heart." I can 

love, and to share its fate. But it is not a personal question; and 
the consideration which constrained me to remain at my present post 
when I was recently urged to leave it for another and important 
field of work, compels me now to do the same. 

I need not tell you, for I am sure you know, with what great re- 
luctance I have reached this decision. Neither need I assure you of 
my great respect and affection for you. 

Thanking you most warmly for all your personal kindness to me, 
and regretting that I cannot go with you, believe me always. 

Very sincerely yours, 
David H. Greer 



136 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

now row entirely around the lake, a distance of 
about three miles, without getting too tired; so 
you see, I am growing very strong indeed. How 
I wish I could give you a row around King 
Philip's Pond! It is all so beautiful! The trees 
and bushes come down to the water's edge, and 
bend over it to look at their own beautiful reflec- 
tions; and a little later the pond-lilies will welcome 
the day with a shower of perfume. 

I wonder where yoii spend your summers. If 
anywhere in Massachusetts, I wish you could 
make us a little visit; we should be so happy to 
see you. God bless you, dear Mr. Greer, from my 
heart of hearts. You cannot know the depth of 
my gratitude. 

I hope you will enjoy your summer, gain health 
and strength, and with fresh happiness return to 
the city to make others happy. 

Ever your loving friend, 
Helen Keller 

Long after, in 1920, Miss Keller wrote of the boat: 

What a joy that little boat was to me! How 
many happy hours I spent in it, rowing or drifting 
on the lovely lakes in Wrentham! And I still 
seem to feel its light, graceful motions in the 
water. The fragrance of pines and lilies comes 
floating on the breeze of memory as I write, fill- 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 137 

ing my heart with sweet thoughts of my friend 
who has voyaged to the mysterious shores of Si- 
lence. 

I have had many, many friends, but I have 
never had a truer friend than Dr. Greer. When I 
was struggling through college, he was ever ready 
with helpful counsel and encouragement. I loved 
him warmly for his goodness, his courage, and his 
sweetness. The memory of his kindness has been 
precious to me all the years since I first met him 
at the house of my good friend, Laurence Hutton. 
I loved him here, and I love him in whatever realm 
of God's universe he dwells now. 

During the sixteen years that he was rector of St. 
Bartholomew's, he met the demands which were placed 
upon him to represent religion before the wider public, 
and he made men respect it. 



VI 

DR. GREER'S influence in his own Church 
reached far. From 1881 he was a member 
of the General Board of Missions. Of his 
work for the Board details will be given in that part of 
this book which covers his bishopric. 

In 1895, 1898, and 1 901, he represented the Diocese 
of New York in the General Convention, with Dr. 
Huntington, Dr. Dix, Dean Hoffman, Dr. Lewis Parks, 
and Dr. Grosvenor. He represented with personal 
strength the strongest diocese in the Church. He sur- 
prised members of the Convention by pleading for a 
rigid Canon forbidding any re-marriage by the Church 
after divorce, even to "the innocent party." By this 
stand, he won the admiration of Bishop Doane, who 
was his warm friend ever after. This intimacy was 
further strengthened by Dr. Greer's substantial co- 
operation, in organizing and building the Matanzas 
Orphanage in Cuba, the founding of which was largely 
due to the indefatigable efforts of Bishop Doane's 
daughter, Mrs. Gardiner. 

He was especially kind, when going to the General 
Convention, in preaching in towns near the city where 
the Convention chanced to meet. For example, in 
1895, when the Convention met in Minneapolis, 

138 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 139 

Bishop Whipple besought his friends to go down with 
him to his home in Faribault on the Saturday nights 
during which the Convention was held, that they might 
preach for him the next day in the Cathedral. Ac- 
cordingly, Dr. Greer made the rather arduous journey 
to preach at one of the Sunday evening services in Fari- 
bault. One who heard him recalls that his text was, 
"Ye shall not see my face except your brother be with 
you." Everybody was moved. After the service, the 
men of the choir surrounded him and asked him ques- 
tions. Without taking off his surplice, he remained 
standing among them for fully half an hour, genially 
talking about his work in New York. He was of 
course a great personage to his listeners, for the fame 
of St. Bartholomew's was throughout the country. But 
they were not over-awed; he was so friendly and kind, 
that it was as natural to ask questions of him as of a 
friend whom they saw every day. 

He was interested in the Church Congress from the 
beginning of its history, and was often heard upon its 
platform, especially upon subjects connected with 
preaching. He would make long journeys in order to 
support this institution for free discussion, going for 
instance as far as St. Paul, where he spoke upon the 
influence of the Newspaper. In 1890, in Philadelphia, 
he spoke upon "Trusts." Having been impressed 
through his intimate friendship with Mr. Cornelius 
Vanderbilt and other earnest Christian business men 
with the sense of responsibility which some rich men 



I40 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

had for their wealth, he assumed that this was a 
prevailing characteristic among capitalists. He was 
therefore inclined to be impatient of the socialistic 
protest. 

A friend who was present at this session of the Con- 
gress remembers that when Dr. Greer was rather too 
optimistic about rich men in general, the gallery hissed. 
In Providence, in 1900, among his old friends and par- 
ishioners, he made an impressive speech on Analysis 
and Synthesis in Religion. He quoted Hegel's charac- 
terization: "movement through negation to reaffirma- 
tion, through destruction to reconstruction"; and Car- 
lyle, "through the Everlasting Nay to the Everlasting 
Yea." The truth of Christ, he said, is always the same, 
but we are not the same. It stays, we move. It abides, 
we grow in our knowledge of it. And what is true of 
us is true of Christendom at large. Christendom has 
grown, not in adding new truth to the truth revealed in 
Jesus Christ, but in its interpretation of that truth. Its 
apprehension of it has changed with its changing en- 
vironment. But just because that truth is an infinite 
term, with an infinite content in it, no one age has ever 
apprehended it fully. Hence we always find that an- 
alysis has its work to do, not as something complete 
in itself, but to be followed by synthesis. The two 
together give us a larger conception of the truth of 
God in Jesus Christ. 

In Albany, in 1902, he spoke on the Moral Aspects 
of the Referendum: 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 141 

A referendum cannot make righteousness. A 
referendum vote may be a righteous expedient in 
some cases. But it is the preacher's task to de- 
clare persistently the eternal, inflexible principles 
revealed by the Lord who rules supreme among 
the sons of men. The task of the Christian 
Church in the midst of a sovereign, independent 
State, is not to try to impair or encroach upon its 
freedom, but to teach how to find it, to guard it 
and defend it, and, by a referendum to Jesus 
Christ, to keep it! 

Early in his rectorship at St. Bartholomew's, Dr. 
Greer delivered the Bedell Lectures at Gambler, Ohio, 
where he had been trained for the Ministry. His sub- 
ject was. The Historic Christ, the Moral Power of His- 
tory. The two lectures are eloquent expressions of his 
personal devotion to Christ. He read this devotion 
from two lives of his Master, one of them in the Gos- 
pel record; the other, in human history, a chronicle 
which will be finished only with the end of human ex- 
istence. From these two sources, glancing from time 
to time at critics like Strauss, John Stuart Mill, Lecky, 
and Huxley, he built up a cumulative argument in be- 
half of the Christian religion. His ultimate defence of 
Christianity was what we should today call "prag- 
matic." When he looked at the power of Christ in 
human affairs and compared that power with all others 
that have "energized" in history, he knew, in the words 
of an English theologian, that 



142 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

The Absolute was born at Bethlehem, the Per- 
fect died on Calvary, the Omnipotent rose at 
Easter, the Infinite ascended from Bethany, and 
the Eternal came down at Pentecost. 

He reached this conclusion not by the subtle processes 
of metaphysical analysis, not by the delicate balanc- 
ings of textual study, but by looking at the facts of 
human experience, that among all the sons of men 
there is none like the Son of Man. He knew that Jesus 
Christ wields an invincible sceptre and is on the throne 
of the world. 

Dr. Greer's influence upon the younger clergy 
throughout the country would have surprised him had 
he known it. Bishop Doane told the rector of Amster- 
dam to go down to St. Bartholomew's to hear Dr. 
Greer, and to see the way he conducted a Church serv- 
ice. The Bishop said he would learn a great lesson. 
Edward L. Atkinson, the brilliant vicar of the Church 
of the Ascension in Boston, wrote, in 1895: 

We have a female-male vested choir k la St. 
Bartholomew's. We had to have it under the cir- 
cumstances: boys not a success for a choir in 
South End, — voices change before or by the time 
manners are cultivated. 

And again Atkinson wrote in 1896: 

I am trying to follow Dr. Greer's way of preach- 
ing a sermon. I scarcely ever write one out fully. 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 143 

I try to get lots of material and much enthusiasm, 
rather let the English take care of itself. It's poor 
enough that I am doing, but the gains are: real 
fun in doing, and comparative ease in preparing. 

Others, too, who had parishes in towns where boys' 
voices were too few, or altogether impossible, were 
encouraged to know that with the unlimited resources 
of St. Bartholomew's, Dr. Greer chose to have a vested 
choir of men and women. So all over the country 
were founded such vested, mixed choirs. Bishops 
sometimes protested in their Convention addresses that 
the cassock and surplice were not feminine garments, 
but when the rector pleaded that "Dr. Greer does it,'* 
the academic protest evaporated. And of course his 
parish house was a model for large parish houses in 
other cities, and it was reproduced in miniature in 
many a little village. He was one of the two or three 
leaders of the Church to whom young men, beginning 
their Ministry, looked for practical suggestion. 



vn 

HAPPY and crowded as his life was, the 
Church beyond New York was not content 
to leave him in his pleasant ecclesiastical 
enclosure. On June 22, 1897, ^is old friends in the 
Diocese of Rhode Island elected him on the first ballot 
Bishop Clark's coadjutor. Letters poured in upon 
him in his summer holiday at Stamford. Those who 
had known him in Providence as rector or as fellow 
clergyman pleaded with him to come. Bishops, covet- 
ing him for the House of Bishops, also pleaded. 
Bishop Lawrence wrote: 

I trust that you will not think me too forward 
in expressing the hope that you will find it your 
duty to accept. The decision must be a difficult 
one, for you have many responsibilities and large 
opportunities in New York. Cannot I say, how- 
ever, as Bishop in the next State, and as your 
friend, how much we need you in the House of 
Bishops, and how important to the whole Church 
it is that such men as you should be in the Upper 
House and have influence in those councils of the 
Church. While we are rectors, and see the oppor- 
tunities in our parish and civic life as such, I do 

M4 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 145 

not think that we give full weight to the oppor- 
tunities of a Bishop in relation to the future of the 
whole Church and the country. 

No man ever dreaded the office more than I, 
or shrank from it as I did. It didn't interest me. 
But my interest has grown; and today, much as 
I loved the old work and miss its satisfactions, I 
would not return if I could. 

Pardon this egotism, and any urgency if I have 
shown it. Whatever you decide will I know be 
right and wise, and wherever you are, God will 
bless you with rich service. 

His father wrote him a long, affectionate letter try- 
ing to balance the claims upon him: 

I wish [he said] I had the wisdom that could 
advise you. Infinite Wisdom and Goodness will 
do that, I am sure. 

Dr. Huntington wrote, in judicial mood, trying to 
put his affection in the background: 

Grace Church Rectory 
New York 

June 29, 1897 
Dear Greer: 

Much depends, it strikes me, upon the outlook 
for your health and strength in case you continue 



146 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

in your present charge. I have supposed all along 
that the reason why you were giving the Rhode 
Island matter serious attention was because you 
were feeling the wear and tear of the work at St. 
Bartholomew's, and felt the absolute necessity of 
a change. Upon two or three points my mind is 
clear, and since you have asked me to do so I will 
set them down. As to their relative importance 
and their true bearings upon one another you can 
judge as well as I, yes, much better: 

i: St. Bartholomew's and its rectorship are 
intrinsically the equals in point of real influence 
of Rhode Island and its Episcopate. 

2: If you can contemplate with satisfaction 
abiding in your present work for fifteen or twenty 
years longer; if, I mean, you feel that you could 
"keep it up," average health and strength being 
presupposed, it will be wisdom to abide. 

3: The Episcopate of Rhode Island is by far 
the best and most appropriate place to shift to, in 
case you take a negative view of "2." No such 
opportunity is likely, humanly speaking, to come 
to you again. Not that bishoprics may not be 
offered you galore, but no such perfect fit. 

4: If you go to Rhode Island (as many of 
your present people make their summer homes 
in that region) you would still retain command, 
to some extent, for missionary purposes and the 
general, in distinction from the parochial and di- 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 147 

ocesan, needs of the Church, of those sinews of 
war which have to be considered to some extent, 
albeit the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. 
These four points seem to me to afford the data 
for a judgment. More than this you will not ask 
of me, save the prayer which I do promptly offer, 
that you may be guided to see aright your path, 
and win the reward of those whose eye is single. 

Faithfully yours, 
W. R. Huntington 

The struggle lasted for several weeks, and then he 
saw clearly that he was not intended to be Bishop of 
Rhode Island, and with the simplest words he declined 
to go. Between the lines, those who knew him under- 
stood how difficult it was to deny the invitation of old 
and beloved friends. Bishop Potter's letter from the 
Lambeth Conference will show the feeling of the Dio- 
cese of New York, especially that part of it bounded 
by St. Bartholomew's Parish: 

London 
My dear Greer: •'"'>' ^3. '897 

Heaven be thanked that we are not to lose you, 
— but I am a. bit sorry for Rhode Island! How- 
ever, I am not responsible for Rhode Island, and 
my heart will be lighter for knowing that we shall 
have the great benefit and blessing of your pres- 
ence and help in New York. 



148 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Remember me to Mrs. Greer, who, I hope, is 
as happy as I am! 

Yours always, 
H. C. Potter 

On November 19, 1901, Dr. Greer was again called 
to the Episcopate. The Diocese of Western Massa- 
chusetts asked him to be its first Bishop. Bishop Law- 
rence, who presided at the primary convention in 
Christ Church, Springfield, tells succinctly how the 
election took place: 

From the first, there has been a spontaneous 
rising at your name. I, of course, have kept en- 
tirely out of it. No other man was in it at all. 
When it came to the Convention, and no one re- 
sponded to my call for another nomination besides 
yours, it was striking. Then the announcement 
by the tellers of the result of the ballot — "Unani- 
mous, by Clergy and Laity" — was most impres- 
sive. There is no doubt that the whole diocese 
wants you. All sorts and conditions turn to you, 
and only the truth has been told about you; they 
have no false impressions. 

I feel for Mrs. Greer and your family in the 
throes of decision. You have done a great work 
in New York under killing pressure. Massachu- 
setts enables one to do the work, and the pressure 
is lower. 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 149 

In some ways, this call was more appealing than the 
call to Rhode Island, for one of the few persons who 
still called him David, his dear friend Arthur Law- 
rence, was rector of Stockbridge; and there were many 
other friends besides. To leave the noise of Madison 
Avenue for the quiet of the hills of rural Massachu- 
setts, seemed at times too attractive to resist; but he 
was sure that his work was still at St. Bartholomew's, 
and he sent his letter of declination: 

St. Bartholomew's Rectory 
342 Madison Avenue 
New York, November 25, 1901 

The Reverend John C. Brooks 

The Reverend Alexander H. Vinton 

and others: 
Gentlemen: 

It is impossible for me to tell you how deeply 
I feel and appreciate the honor which has been 
conferred upon me by the new Diocese of Western 
Massachusetts. I should certainly be more than 
human, or less, not to be greatly moved by the 
unusual and impressive manner of my election; 
and it is only after an earnest, and I hope con- 
scientious reconsideration of the whole subject, 
that I find my conviction unchanged. I cannot 
feel it my duty to go to Massachusetts, and there- 
fore must decline the great honor which you have 
paid me. 



ISO DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

It has not been an easy thing to reach this de- 
cision; but now that I have reached it and that 
my mind is clear which way my duty lies, it is my 
further duty to inform you of it at once; and in 
doing so, let me express the hope, that whatever 
you may think of the wisdom of my course, you 
will at least believe that I have tried to do, and 
have done, what seemed to me to be right. 

Again thanking you most sincerely for such a 
manifestation of your confidence and regard, be- 
lieve me always. 

Faithfully yours, 
David H. Greer 

Bishop Doane, from the impartial neighborhood of 
Albany, wrote his approval: 

Albany, N. Y., Nov. 27, 1901 
My very dear brother: 

I have felt intensely for you during the strain 
of this decision. I have from the beginning felt 
that you were abundantly justified in declining 
even so striking an election as that was, and I am 
very grateful to you for writing me in the midst of 
all that you have had to do, and very clear in my 
own mind that your decision is the right one on 
all grounds, and that I believe God will bless it 
because of the absolute honesty of its purpose, to 
your larger usefulness where you are now, and. 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 151 

as I most earnestly hope, to usefulness in the 
Bishop's work somewhere else. 

Always very faithfully, 

W. C. DOANE . 

Mrs. Doane is very glad to retain her Coadjutor. 

In January, 1902, the Diocese of Pennsylvania was 
in need of a Bishop Coadjutor. Dr. Greer was ap- 
proached by a strong committee of laymen. By this 
time he was an expert in weighing the relative duty 
one might feel towards a great parish and a diocese; 
but he did not decide hastily. Two letters tell the 
whole story. On January 8, he wrote: 

I hardly know how to answer the question 
which you and Mr. Thomas asked me the other 
day, without putting myself in a wrong and false 
position. I certainly am not a candidate for the 
Episcopal Office and do not seek it. If I did I 
would not be worthy of it. And yet I would not 
be worthy of my present office if I refused to 
consider it, for I am a soldier under orders, ready 
I hope to do and go as duty may direct. I did 
not think it my duty to leave my work here for 
Western Massachusetts, and said so beforehand; 
but in the case of such a large and important field 
of work as the Diocese of Pennsylvania, that 
could not be said beforehand by me or anyone 



152 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

else; and if such a diocese should see fit to sum- 
mon me to the Episcopate, with a strong and ur- 
gent call, it would deserve and receive a most 
serious consideration, and I would try to decide it, 
not as in any sense a personal question, but with 
reference simply to my greater usefulness in the 
Church. 

That is all, it seems to me, that I or anyone else 
ought to say in advance to such a hypothetical 
question as you have asked. 

On January 27, he gave his final decision: 

Since writing you about a fortnight ago, I have 
been thinking a great deal about the election in 
Pennsylvania and its possible result in choosing 
me as Bishop Coadjutor of that diocese. I felt 
compelled to do this, although the matter was not 
actually before me; yet, if I allowed it to go on, 
and should be elected, I felt that I would not be 
free to consider it but would be morally bound to 
accept it. I have therefore taken the time, as a 
matter of justice both to Pennsylvania and myself, 
to consider it beforehand, and as the result, I have 
reached the conclusion that it would not be my 
duty to go. 

I cannot give you in a letter all the pros and 
cons which have influenced me in reaching this 
decision; I can only say that I have balanced 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 153 

them in my mind very carefully and with sole 
reference to my duty and usefulness. 

I am sorry to have to disappoint you, more 
sorry than I can say; but it is better to disappoint 
you now than to disappoint you afterwards, in 
case I should be elected; for, feeling as I do about 
it, I could not accept the election. 

You are at liberty, if you choose and if you 
think it necessary, to make this letter public; but 
at all events, may I ask you as my friend, not to 
let me be nominated. 



VIII 

THAT Dr. Greer's preaching in New York 
was stronger than his preaching in Provi- 
dence would be difficult to assert, but one 
who heard him frequently in both places has borne 
testimony that his sermons at St. Bartholomew's were 
delivered with more force and abandon than ever. All 
through his New York rectorship he allowed nothing 
to interfere with the preparation which he knew that 
he must give to his preaching. He would shut himself 
in his study on Friday afternoons and work with all 
his might to put into form the sermon which had been 
growing, consciously or subconsciously, through the 
earlier days of the week. This study was on the 
second floor of the church. No one but Dr. Greer used 
it. If all went well he would leave the study about 
five o'clock, to make parochial calls or to ride his 
horse. If the door slammed and he ran rapidly down 
the stairs, this was a clear indication that the sermon 
was well started on its triumphant course; but when, 
instead, he came into his office, his hair dishevelled, 
his face distraught, his voice discouraged, it was ob- 
vious that he was writhing in an agony of despair be- 
cause the sermon would not "come." "I am going 
out," he would sometimes say, "but I have not yet 

1S4 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 155 

the remotest idea what I shall preach about next Sun- 
day." Whether or not he was started on Friday after- 
noon, all Friday evening, Saturday, and all Saturday 
evening, he worked upon his sermon. Then again on 
Sunday morning he spent a final hour in his study, 
making himself sure of the thoughts and words of the 
message, which he hoped it would be given him to 
preach. As in Providence, so also in New York, his 
preaching was more or less uneven. There might be 
several sermons, which, though good, would not rise 
much above an ordinary average, and then there would 
come a sermon which would be for ever memorable to 
those who heard it. In the fulness of his physical 
strength his utterance was what is ordinarily called 
"impassioned." (A vestr5mian once wrote, beseech- 
ing him to spare himself the evident strain.) His voice 
would drop almost to a whisper, and again it would 
ring. His hands were in almost constant motion. One 
gesture his congregation will remember, when he held 
his hand aloft and every finger seemed to vibrate with 
the emotion which his thought was expressing. The 
intense silence of the congregation throughout his 
sermon showed the close attention which everyone in 
the church was giving to him. In offering advice to 
a clergyman who had recently come to New York, he 
said that his afternoon addresses really cost him no 
special effort, because he used as material for them 
the thoughts which he had gathered for the morning 
sermons but which he had not been able to include 



156 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

within the limited time. The character of the after- 
noon sermons was entirely different from that of the 
morning. The morning sermon was formal, well- 
ordered; the afternoon address was unconventional, 
suggestive, not didactic. Since the afternoon service 
was composed almost wholly of music, he would often 
catch his inspiration from the anthem, and carry on 
and deepen the effect which he felt that the music had 
produced in the people. 

During the winter of 1902-03 an Englishman was 
visiting the cities of America. With discrimination 
and sympathy he went about to various churches of 
the different Communions, to hear those whose preach- 
ing was thought excellent. Some of his criticisms are 
withering. The sermon of which he spoke with most 
enthusiasm was one preached by Dr. Greer. No more 
accurate impression could be given of his preaching 
during these years at St. Bartholomew's than the esti- 
mate of this anonymous Englishman: 

My third visit was paid to St. Bartholomew's 
church, on the morning of January 4. There was 
a large congregation, of which men formed a con- 
siderable proportion. Dr. Greer chose as his text, 
"Jesus saith unto her. Touch me not; for I am 
not yet ascended to my Father" (John xx. 17). 
He first explained that the verb translated 
"touch" meant "touch in such a manner as to take 
possession of." More time might perhaps have 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 157 

been spent with advantage in making quite clear 
the interpretation put by the preacher upon the 
whole text, on which so many opinions have been 
expressed by various expositors; but Dr. Greer 
appeared to understand it as meaning that after 
the Ascension it would be possible for Mary — 
and for all believers — to touch, or take posses- 
sion of, our Lord in a manner that had hitherto 
been impossible. The emphasis of the sermon 
was consequently laid not upon the immediate 
prohibition, but upon the later privilege which it 
implied. Mary could no longer appropriate 
Christ, as she had done before, as an earthly 
friend and companion, for that relation had 
ceased; yet another and better relation would 
henceforward be possible. 

"The Touch of the Soul" was therefore the 
preacher's subject. He gradually worked his way 
up to his main exhortation by reviewing the dif- 
ferent kinds of life which most men tried to touch 
and possess. No stimulus was needed in the at- 
tempt to touch physical and material life; the 
financial reviews of the year in the papers showed 
not only an increasing accumulation, but an in- 
creasing distribution of physical wealth. Nor did 
men need, as a rule, to be urged to seek mental 
life. "We are an intelligent people, and all kinds 
of reading and travelling are within our reach." 
Neither did men need as much as some supposed, 



158 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

any urging towards a moral life. "We are on the 
whole a conscientious people, trying to do what 
is right. There are far more honest men than 
dishonest, more temperate than intemperate, more 
good husbands and wives than bad husbands and 
wives." Otherwise society would go to pieces: 
some trivial part of it might be going to pieces, 
but society at large was not. But all these things 
together were not enough. It was not enough to 
be prosperous, intelligent, conscientious. "We 
have within us the capacity for some other kind of 
life whose charm we want to catch, whose glow 
and power we want to feel." 

This lacking element was then declared to be 
the mystic touch of the soul — sensitive and 
subtle, yet as real and true as the touch of the 
body. How otherwise could we touch Christ to- 
day? We could not touch Him, as His disciples 
once did, by means of the body. Nor could we do 
so chiefly in and through the workings of the mind. 
The critical, historical, and exegetical study of 
documents and records was good and valuable, but 
in that manner, after all, we could only learn about 
Christ, not take possession of Him with an im- 
mediate and personal possession. Nor was He to 
be touched chiefly in and through the workings of 
the conscience, which would find in Him only a 
great moral leader, a prophet, a teacher, an ex- 
ample. That was not the greatness that gave 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 159 

uniqueness to Him, for He shared it with others. 
"Yet these," Dr. Greer continued, in a striking, 
not to say startling, passage, "are some of the 
ways in which Christendom has tried and is try- 
ing to touch and possess Him." It had attempted 
this by putting Him on the altar in veritable flesh 
and blood for men to touch and eat and with their 
body possess; or by putting Him into great dog- 
matic and philosophical creeds for men with their 
mind to possess; or by putting Him into great 
moral creeds, with great moral rules and laws and 
duties, for men with their conscience to possess. 
Then the preacher's searching of heart came 
nearer home. Had not many of us tried these 
various ways of touching Him? We had strug- 
gled again and again, but the veil which we could 
not pierce or lift always seemed to be there, until 
at last we learned that Jesus Christ was to be ap- 
prehended and appropriated through the medium 
of spiritual experience. And touching and pos- 
sessing Him with the mystic touch of the soul 
meant finding in Him our God. When Christ was 
thus touched by the spiritual sense, this posses- 
sion of Him would influence the other senses also: 
He would then guide and rule the conscience, and 
illuminate the intelligence, and purify and sanc- 
tify the passions of the body. 

It was to this point, therefore, that the 
preacher's argimient led us — an appeal for the 



i6o DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

deepening and intensifying of the spiritual sense. 
There was a reminder, too, of the possibilities of 
the future. "When the scaffolding is taken down, 
when the body of flesh is gone — gone, thank 
God! forever — with a finer spiritual sense, with 
the mystic touch of the soul, we shall learn more 
fully to take possession of Christ. Our immor- 
tality will not be simply a going on and on, but 
a going up for ever; ascending through the mys- 
tery heights of being, ascending towards the 
Father, and with unfolding touch of the soul 
taking possession of Jesus Christ." "This," con- 
cluded the preacher, "is my New Year word and 
New Year message. Prosperity we have; intelli- 
gence we have, conscience we have. We have 
physical life and treasure, mental life and treasure, 
moral life and treasure. Let us go into the open- 
ing year seeking spiritual life and treasure, re- 
solved above all else to take possession of Christ, 
and with Him to take possession of God." 

Such a sermon would have been interesting and 
stimulating even if it had been badly read from a 
manuscript. As it was. Dr. Greer gave it ex 
tempore, with appropriate gesture and modulation 
of the voice. Here and there a word or phrase 
was strongly emphasized, always in the right place 
and in the right degree. Yet there seemed no 
conscious attempt at the exercise of elocutionary 
skill: one felt that it was quite natural for the 




ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH, NEW YORK 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S i6i 

speaker to utter his measures just in that way. 
He was himself animated and eager — a condition 
which is no slight help towards making an im- 
pression, for a congregation is much more likely 
to think it worth its while to listen when the 
preacher himself gives indications of being really 
gripped by his subject. In this case there was 
good reason alike for earnestness in the pulpit 
and attention in the pew. My one unfavorable 
criticism of the sermon itself, the high quality of 
which must be evident even from my summary, is 
a doubt whether Dr. Greer was not betrayed into 
an exaggeration by his desire to bring out into 
high relief the truth he wished to expound. I do 
not mean that he laid too much stress upon the 
extreme importance of the spiritual sense, but that 
he unduly disparaged the importance of the ethi- 
cal. Surely, Dr. Greer is much too easily satis- 
fied, if he supposes that the virtuous tendencies 
of the community in general are so strong as 
to make it comparatively unnecessary to trouble 
very much about preaching to the conscience. If 
the New York of today, in its public and private 
life, is really "trying to do what is right" one can 
only conclude that there is urgent need for a 
great deal more plain speech from the Christian 
ministry as to what the difference between right 
and wrong really is. I can easily imagine some 
hearers so strongly dissenting from Dr. Greer's 



i62 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

complacency in this matter as to listen with reluc- 
tance to what remained. Later in the sermon, 
however, he took a position which cannot success- 
fully be assailed, when he declared that one of the 
results of the possession of Christ by the spirit- 
ual sense would be to make Him guide and ruler 
of the conscience. This, it seems to me, is the 
argument that will most effectively appeal to those 
who lament the prevailing moral indifference. The 
ethical progress they seek will never be gained by 
the mere preaching of ethics, which, human na- 
ture being what it is, will always be on the 
whole, dry and barren. But let there be a spirit- 
ual revival and an ethical revival will not lag 
far behind; for if you can but inspire men with 
personal devotion to Christ, they will not need 
much exhortation to do His will. 

Professor Edward S. Drown, after the lapse of 
about twenty-five years, remembers a sermon which 
he heard Dr. Greer preach in Appleton Chapel in 
Cambridge; and this is Dr. Drown's account of it: 

I cannot recall the date on which I heard Dr. 
Greer preach in the Harvard University Chapel. 
I feel sure that it was before he was made Bishop; 
sometime in the 'Nineties. The text was from 
Genesis iii. 3: "Of the fruit of the tree which is 
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 163 

shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest 
ye die." I have an idea that he also repeatedly 
used the words of Genesis ii. 17, "In the day that 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." 

The sermon made a deep impression on me, 
and I remember especially the force and solemnity 
with which the preacher used the words of the 
text (or of Genesis ii. 17) in driving home the 
special application of his central thought. That 
thought was that the garden symbolized the 
garden of life. And in the midst of the garden 
of every man's life, at the very heart and center 
of his character, grew his greatest opportunity 
and his greatest danger. The tree in the midst 
of his garden could be the source of his power 
or the occasion of his tragic ruin. I do not think 
that Dr. Greer used the words, but his thought is 
well expressed in the saying, A busus optimi pessi- . . 
mus. And the "best" was the best for that special 
man. 

I remember his dwelling on the man of strong 
and virile passions, in whom the manly emotions 
and feelings play the leading part. To such a man 
these qualities, consecrated to noble use, are the 
source of power. And, just for that reason, the 
danger for that man is lust, the abuse of passion. 
A man of less virile temperament might perhaps 
tamper with that sin, and not be utterly ruined. 
But for the man of strong passions, his greatest 



i64 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

opportunity is his greatest temptation and his 
greatest danger. He above all others is to guard 
himself from that sin. It is the degradation of his 
noblest nature, the destruction of his best self. 
For him to touch it is to die. I remember the 
force with which the preacher, with clenched fist, 
brought out the words, "Of the tree that is in the 
midst of thy garden, thou shalt not eat of it, 
neither shalt thou touch it; for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 

I think that another application was to the sins 
of the mind. For the man of mental power, the 
temptation is mental sloth, or compromise with 
truth. For him to touch that is to die. 

The sermon seemed to me especially adapted 
for young men. Without being obtrusively ap- 
plicable to students' problems, it yet bore pro- 
foundly on the problems that confront men whose 
choice of a life's work is not made. 

The kind of general preparation which he had made 
in Providence he made also during these busy years 
of his New York rectorship. He was reading every 
new theological book upon which he could put his 
hands. Philosophical and scientific treatises he read 
voraciously. He was not reading much poetry except 
Browning. A novel was read occasionally for recre- 
ation, but he did not read novels in his study. 

He would go into his study at nine o'clock each 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 165 

morning. The first task was the mail. After looking 
it over and dictating the necessary answers (a task 
ordinarily finished by eleven o'clock) he would in- 
variably spend the rest of the morning in reading. Of 
course there were some interruptions to this order. 
Occasionally there would be a morning meeting at 
which he would preside. On Monday mornings he 
spent two hours at the parish house hearing the reports 
of the workers; and in Lent, there was on some days 
a morning service. But it was a rare weekday when 
he did not secure two hours each morning for solid 
reading. The telephone was kept out of the rectory 
and the church as long as possible, but with the new 
century the relentless bell began to ring. Immedi- 
ately after luncheon he had his office hour, from two 
to three. Very few of the people who came were his 
own parishioners. The parishioners saw him at parish 
meetings, on Tuesday evenings, when he and Mrs. 
Greer were at home to them, at friendly dinners, and 
when he made his parochial calls. Many of the visi- 
tors were complete strangers, some asking for financial 
help, some asking advice. A good many clergymen 
came to know him by reputation and sought his 
counsel. Parish workers, knowing that they would be 
sure to find him, came at this time. When there was 
some special need in the community, the office would 
be thronged, as when he was giving out woodyard 
tickets. At three o'clock he would bring the office 
hours to a close, asking those who were still waiting to 



1 66 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

come again; then he would go out and make parish 
calls, or take his share in the business of the many 
boards and committees, parochial, diocesan and civic, 
to which he belonged. He was a member of the Riding 
Club, and several afternoons each week he would ride 
for an hour or two in the park. In Lent, the most 
popular weekday service was at five o'clock Tuesday 
afternoons, when he preached. During the season he 
dined at the homes of parishioners about two evenings 
a week. Almost every week he would drop into the 
parish house to spend part of an evening there. Any 
evening he was free he would spend in reading. 

He was not exempt from occasional illnesses. He 
was a poor sleeper, and an almost constant sufferer 
from intercostal neuralgia during these days at St. Bar- 
tholomew's. In the summer of 1900 he suffered a 
good deal of pain from his eyes, but his sight was not 
impaired. The following spring the pain returned and 
became so intense that the doctors decided that he 
must undergo an operation for glaucoma. He received 
almost instant relief, and for several years believed 
that his sight was better than in recent years. Before 
Lent he would take a few days holiday, at Lakewood 
or some other nearby resort. After Easter, for several 
years, he went out to Pasadena, California, to visit his 
father and mother, who made their home there during 
the last years of their lives. His long summer vaca- 
tion was spent, sometimes at New Canaan, once 
abroad, once at Stamford, and for eleven years at East 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 167 

Hampton, Long Island. At all these places he rented 
a house. His summers were great feasts of reading. 

Altogether, strenuous as his days were, fruitful as 
his practical ministry was in its results, he was able, 
during the St. Bartholomew's days, to maintain his 
habit of systematic reading. So he kept himself in- 
formed of the thought not only of the age but of the 
ages. 

More than all, he kept close to men. He was often 
at the Metropolitan Club in the late afternoon, talking 
with friends, and with strangers who thereby became 
friends. He sometimes apologized for belonging to so 
sumptuous a club, explaining that a parishioner had 
insisted on his becoming a member and so had made 
membership possible for him. He was often at the 
Riding Club, and here too he met men. There was 
never the cheap familiarity; nor was he ever what is 
called a club-man; but he was a man's man. Men 
liked to tell him their troubles and their hopes; he was 
glad to listen. They knew instinctively that he cared, 
and his counsel and trust were enormous help again 
and again. Sometimes such interviews closed without 
the knowledge coming to the man who was helped that 
the helper was a clergyman. He was just an obviously 
good man willing to be wonderfully patient and kind. 
And he understood ; and he put his finger on the exact 
spot where the trouble lay. Men respected him; then 
they loved him. 

Children too were a refuge. His grandchildren were 



i68 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

only the first among many who knew his comradeship. 
One of the teachers in the Sunday-school of the Parish 
Church reveals what children meant to him: 

My happiest memories of Dr. Greer are bound 
up with the recollections of the four years I was 
privileged to teach in his afternoon Sunday-school, 
before he was elected Bishop. 

Our school was held in the old choir room, back 
of the church on Forty-fourth Street. I can see 
now the quiet opening of the door, which led into 
the Rectory, and the appearance regularly every 
Sunday afternoon of Dr. and Mrs. Greer. With- 
out disturbing the school, they would slip into the 
low seats with the little children of the Primary 
Grade and follow the lesson and blackboard talk 
with sympathetic appreciation. At the close of 
the session, the little ones always crowded around 
them, sure of a loving personal greeting. 

One Sunday, when the Rectory door opened. 
Dr. Greer held by the hand his little grandchild 
and proudly brought her forward to be enrolled 
as a member of the class. 

The Christmas and Easter festivals of the Sun- 
day-school gave peculiar joy to Dr. Greer and 
when the Teachers were decorating the Christmas 
tree, or planning out the festivals the evening be- 
fore, the Rectory door would always open, and 
Dr. Greer slip in (sometimes with a party of 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 169 

dinner guests) to show his appreciation and per- 
sonal interest in the workers. 

One of the great charms of his winning person- 
ality, was the fact that he not only showed his 
appreciation for work well done, but freely ex- 
pressed it in words of encoiu^agement and admira- 
tion. 

There will ever remain with me his parting 
words at the Spring closing of our Sunday-school, 
when one of the Teachers admitted to feeling 
tired, after the intensive work of the winter. 
"That is as it should be," said Dr. Greer, with a 
smile of encouragement. "You have a right to feel 
tired, when you have done your work well." 



IX 

IN HIS hard work at St. Bartholomew's, Dr. Greer 
was stayed by his friendships. The loyal support 
of Mr. Vanderbilt has already been mentioned. 
The whole vestry were thoughtful, not only of the 
work which he was leading but also of his personal 
welfare. Looking forward to the first vestry meeting 
after the operation upon his eye, one vestryman, who 
found it impossible to be present, wrote to another: 

I find it impossible to attend the vestry meeting 
on account of the hour. I am due at a dinner at 
the Waldorf at 6.30, and it is not in my power to 
sprint from the Parish House to my domicile, 
dress, and sprint again to the Waldorf, all in half 
an hour. 

I am sorry, because I suppose Dr. Greer's right 
to destroy his health will come up for discussion. 
May I ask you to record me as emphatically in 
favor of saving him by violent measures. He has 
that kind of nerve that will make him work until 
he drops. Let us therefore conspire together to 
deprive him of his liberty and force him to loaf 
for a series of months. 

I will cooperate in any plan you wise men 
adopt looking to that end. I will even go to hear 

Z70 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 171 

you preach. Besides, we shall enjoy the Doctor 
all the more after a few doses of the ordinary 
sermon. 

He was cheered also by his comradeship with his 
friends among the clergy. He did not see as much 
of them as he saw of his brethren in Providence, when 
he was a rector there. He would meet them at clerical 
clubs, and especially at friendly dinners made up 
wholly of clergymen. When his friend. Dr. Satterlee, 
decided to accept his election as Bishop of the Diocese 
of Washington, Dr. Greer wrote his appreciation of 
the friendship of the past and his hope for the future: 

St. Bartholomew's Rectory 
342 Madison Avenue 

December 30, 1895 
My dear Dr. Satterlee: 

Now that you have decided the important ques- 
tion which you have been considering for the past 
week or so, I want to write and tell you how glad 
I am for the Church's sake that you have resolved 
to go to Washington. We shall miss you very 
much in New York, and although we do not see 
much of one another, it has always been a great 
gratification to me to hear of your work at Cal- 
vary, and I have felt the good influence of your 
presence even though I have not seen much of 
you. 



172 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

I look upon the new Bishopric of Washington 
as the most important position in the whole 
Church. For no other, it seems to me, would it 
have been right for you to leave Calvary. I felt 
like telling you this while you were considering 
the matter; and yet it seemed to be the part of 
friendship to let you work it out for yourself. 
But now that you have worked it out, and reached 
what seems to me such a wise conclusion, I want 
you to know not only how I feel about it but how 
I feel about you. Doubtless we differ in some 
things, but I esteem and respect you none the less 
for that, and I earnestly hope and pray, yes, and 
believe, that you will do the same fine work in 
Washington which you have done here. 

Believe me always, very sincerely your friend, 

David H. Greer 

When, in 1901, the Reverend Charles H. Brent was 
called to be Bishop of the Philippine Islands, he sought 
advice in New York. Bishop Brent thus describes two 
of the calls he made: 

First I went to see Dr. , whose advice was 

that the Church had not made proper provision 
for the Philippines in either men or resources and 
that therefore it would be desirable not to accept 
the Bishopric. His clear-cut argument almost 
convinced me, but I had promised to see Greer 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 173 

and went directly, telling Dr. that I was 

going over to see Greer. He immediately said, 
"Trust the Church," and argued for a venture 
of faith. I felt his was the higher wisdom and 
truer Christian philosophy and told him before 
I left the house that he had convinced me what 
my duty was. Of course, since then, I have had 
long intimate association with him, and no man 
was dearer to me than he. When I decided, he 
said to me, "Now that you have made up your 
mind, see that you live in the top story of your 
decision." 

In 1902, his college at Washington, Pennsylvania, 
sought his presence at its one hundredth anniversary. 
Though he could not be present, the degree of Doctor 
of Laws was bestowed upon him.* The reason why 
he did not go is told in this letter: 

yondermere 
East Hampton, Long Island 

September 15, 1902 
Dear Dr. Moffat: 

I had the misfortune a few days ago to be 
thrown violently from my horse, with the result 

*Dr. Greer had previously received the degree of Doctor of Di- 
vinity from Brown University, in 1880; from Kenyon College, in 
1881 ; from the University of the South in igoo. He was later 
to receive the same degree from Columbia, in 1904; and from Har- 
vard, in 191 7. 



174 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

that I have been since, and am still, laid up, with 
a broken and badly bruised shoulder. I asked 
my physician yesterday if he thought I should 
be well enough by next week to go to Washington. 
His reply was that I certainly should not be, and 
that it would be extremely hazardous to make 
the journey. 

I am exceedingly sorry, for I had been looking 
forward with much pleasure to this visit to my 
alma mater upon the occasion of her Centenary, 
and it is a great and keen disappointment to me to 
be compelled to forego it. But as I have no op- 
tion in the matter I must of course submit to what 
I cannot control, and I am sure you will appre- 
ciate the situation. I shall still hope, however, that 
the visit is only postponed and that I may be 
able to give myself that pleasure at another not 
distant time. 

With best wishes for the continued prosperity 
of the venerable institution which has done so 
much to promote sound learning and pure 
manners, and with which I consider it an honor to 
be associated, believe me. 

Very sincerely yours, 
David H. Greer 

The Reverend Dr. James D. Moffat, 
President Washington and Jefferson College 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 175 

These were strenuous years. He worked very hard, 
but the rewards were great. He knew appreciation, 
kindness, affection. 

Then there was one friend who, little by little, came 
more deeply into his life. When in 1899 his mother 
died, he received this letter from Dr. Huntington: 

Grace Church Rectory 
New York 
My dear friend: ' ' ^^ 

In this busy life which we live here in New 
York whatever else is suffered to go by the board 
we must not fail in the duties which personal affec- 
tion lays on us, or keep silence when sorrow comes 
to one whom we love. 

The death of a father or a mother is one of 
the capital bereavements, and no matter what 
the time of life may be when the loss finds us, the 
sense of orphanage is the same. My mother died 
the day before I was twenty-one, and if I live to be 
a hundred I shall never forget the desolateness of 
heart in which under those circumstances I went 
forth to face life. Your mother has been longer 
spared to you. Thank God for that: I doubt not 
that you do from the depths of your heart. 

May God give you, my dear fellow, at this 
time among your "Visions" the vision of His per- 

^ ' Yours affectionately, 

W. R. Huntington 



IN MAY, 1903, the clergy of the Diocese of New 
York received from Bishop Potter the assurance 
that he would be glad to ask for the election of a 
Bishop Coadjutor, and that he would assign to him the 
visitation of all the city parishes, the administration of 
all discipline, the examination of all the candidates for 
Holy Orders, the laying of all cornerstones, and the 
consecration of all churches; reserving for himself visi- 
tations in the rural churches, the admission of candi- 
dates for Holy Orders, and of persons in Holy 
Orders in other dioceses applying to be transferred to 
New York. Very soon, Dr. Greer was approached by 
a committee asking if he would accept the office. He 
was so unwilling to make this promise that the com- 
mittee had hard work. He refused to commit himself 
until the Convention should act; but after much pres- 
sure, he consented to allow his name to be presented 
to the Convention. The Convention met in the Church 
of the Heavenly Rest, on September 30. Dr. Greer 
was nominated by Dr. Dix of Trinity Parish, and the 
nomination was seconded by Dr. Huntington of Grace 
Church. Dr. Grosvenor and Dr. Roper were also nom- 
inated. Dr. Greer was elected upon the first ballot. 

176 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 177 

When the Convention met the next morning, the com- 
mittee appointed to notify Dr. Greer of his election 
entered the church with him. The delegates arose, and 
remained standing while Bishop Potter received Dr. 
Greer at the choir steps, with these words: 

It is rather a pathetic association with this 
Convention, as my dear friend Mr. Morgan re- 
minded me last evening, that twenty-five years 
ago, practically, he walked up the aisle of St. 
Augustine's Chapel in New York, in company with 
the Reverend Dr. Dix, the Reverend Dr. Morgan, 
and Mr. Hamilton Fish, who had been appointed 
to convey to me the notice of my election as As- 
sistant Bishop of the Diocese of New York. I 
am sure that we may congratulate Mr. Morgan 
and the rector of Trinity Church, that they have 
survived to be present on this occasion. 

I asked one of the members of the convention, 
when I came here this morning, if he would be 
good enough to intimate to me if he had any 
knowledge of what the answer of the Bishop 
Coadjutor-elect was likely to be. Because of 
course it would make a great difference, a some- 
what painful anti-climax, my dear Dr. Greer, if, 
after having said, as I can say with all my heart, 
how glad I am to have you come and stand by 
my side, you should come and say you wouldn't 
do it I 



178 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

But I rejoice to be able to present to you, my 
dear brethren, one who has already intimated 
that he is willing to accept the burden of respon- 
sibility that you have laid upon him. I think it 
is a fortunate thing for the Diocese of New York, 
that there should be called to the diocese, at this 
time, this man. The Christian situation, men and 
brethren, all around the world, is one which in- 
volves a mingling of such uncertain questions, 
which involves a capacity to understand them and 
a willingness to study them, which has been mani- 
fested in all the ministry of my dear brother since 
he came to the Diocese of New York and became 
the rector of St. Bartholomew's Church. 

I am also glad to say that I profoundly believe 
that the clergy and laity of this diocese will find 
in him a man of large and generous S5mipathies, 
one who will recognize the catholic character of 
the Diocese of New York, as including a great 
variety of opinions and as charged with the duty 
of ministration to all sorts and conditions of men. 

One of the loveliest characters that ever stood 
in this convention, and one of the most interesting 
men whom I ever knew (I mean the late Dr. 
George Houghton, rector for some time of the 
Church of the Transfiguration, of which he was 
the founder), had a seal, which he was good 
enough to use whenever I got a letter from him, 
which was partly made up of that fine sentence: 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 179 

Humanus sum; nihil humanum mihi alienum. 
My dear brethren, it is because, in the good provi- 
dence of God, He has given to this diocese, to sus- 
tain the relation of its Bishop Coadjutor, and 
ultimately of its Bishop, my dear friend and 
brother, that I have great delight this morning in 
presenting him to you, and in asking you to re- 
ceive from his own lips his answer to the call 
which you have given him. 

Dr. Greer, much moved, annoimced his decision: 

I am too much impressed with the solemnity 
of this occasion to use the ordinary language of 
conventional courtesy, to thank you for what you 
have done. I do not at all regard it in the light of 
honor and compliment. It is far above all that. 
It is a great and sacred trust, to which you have 
seen fit to summon me. I think I may say what 
many of you know: I did not seek it. I rather 
shrank from it. I was happy and contented in my 
field of work, and hoped that in that field I 
could fill up the full measure of my usefulness to 
God and my fellowmen; and it breaks my heart to 
leave it. But you have called me. 

One thing, however, you could not and cannot, 
and, I am sure, would not compel me to do. You 
could not compel me to be the Bishop of any 
party or school of thought in this diocese or in 



i8o DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

the Church at large. I recognize the fact that be- 
neath the surface, however diversified that surface 
may be, there is a deep and loyal devotion to our 
common Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. There 
is no Name that can so touch and sway our hearts 
as that Name. That Name is the one that I shall 
recognize, and that Personality is the One that I 
shall try to serve. 

There are only two things for me to say, in con- 
clusion. One is, that it will be a great privilege 
to stand by the side of our honored and noble 
Diocesan, who for a score of years has borne the 
burden of this arduous responsibility and work, 
and who has attained the highest reputation and 
character, not only throughout this diocese, but 
throughout the Church, and who has discharged 
his duties in such faithful and conscientious 
manner, and with such statesmanlike ability. 

The only other thing I have to say, gentlemen, 
is this: I cannot but recognize it as the call of 
God, and whatever it may involve to me person- 
ally as such, with such power as God has given 
me, and such help as you can furnish and supply, 
I will, if your choice should be confirmed by the 
Church at large, accept the responsibility, and 
devote m)rself to the work of that high office. 

Letters of approval poured in. Even the dioceses 
which had failed to seciu-e him as bishop rejoiced that 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S i8i 

he should be a Bishop in New York. Dr. Richards 
gave his decision immediately: 

My dear Greer: 

Yesterday was a delightful day for the Diocese 
of New York, and a proud day for Mrs. Greer, 
but I am rather sorry for you. Of course you've 
got in the habit of refusing bishoprics, but I 
wouldn't this time. The diocese is small, and not 
nearly so important as it thinks itself, but still, 
I've no doubt you can make work for yourself 
there if you give your mind to it. There must be 
several unconverted heathen down in Wall Street 
and elsewhere for you to set your Archdeacons 
on, and there may be a moral reform in some ob- 
scure corner of Manhattan that you can resusci- 
tate enough to interest Tammany and keep it 
healthily active between elections. Of course you 
made the mistake of your life in refusing Rhode 
Island, but that blunder is at present irreparable, 
and I wouldn't wait for McVickar's shoes. He 
seems in too good condition. No, get over your 
vaunting ambitions, and settle down quietly to 
little New York, and you'll very likely bring it 
up to the standard of North Yakima yet. There's 
that Cathedral to finish for one thing. I've no 
doubt Bradner would give you a collection in St. 
John's Sunday-school to help along at any time. 
If not, I could promise you my last dollar as soon 



i82 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

as I come to it, if any Vanderbilt or Rockefeller 
will look after all the previous bills and see that 
they are receipted. This offer ought to settle 
any financial difficulties. 

To think of Dix nominating you and Hunting- 
ton seconding you! The millennium is evidently 
begun. I think I will sing Nunc Dimittis and go 
to my rest. 

Heartily yours and Mrs. Greer's always, 

C. A. L. Richards 

Providence, R. I. 

October i, 1903 

From far across the Pacific a Bishop wrote: 

I have just heard of Greer's election as Co- 
adjutor of New York with great joy. He is a 
good man, a man of God, and that is infinitely 
more important than any theological color. 

The leave-taking of his people at St. Bartholomew's 
was not quite so hard as that earlier parting in Provi- 
dence. For he was to see the men and the women fre- 
quently who had been his flock, and he would still 
rely on their friendship and loving support. Even so, 
the parting was hard enough. After his last service 
in the old church, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Thome said 
to the sexton at the door, "Well, Aldred, we came to 
the first service at which Dr. Greer officiated in St. 
Bartholomew's: now, this is his last service as rector. 



ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 183 

We don't see how we can bear to come without him." 
"Ah," said the sexton, "perhaps there'll be another 
Dr. Greer." Then he straightened himself, and said 
with decision, "But there never can be another Mrs. 
Greer." 



V 

THE BISHOPRIC 



L 



V 
THE BISHOPRIC 



OOKING forward to his consecration, Dr. 
Greer wrote to Bishop Potter: 



East Hampton, 
October 5, 1903 
My dear Bishop, 

Thank you very much for your kind and help- 
ful suggestion about St. Bartholomew's. It seems 
to me most excellent, and I shall give it serious 
consideration and see if it cannot be carried out. 

While I am writing, will you let me say what I 
could not very easily say to your face, — how 
nobly and unselfishly you have acted in this 
matter of a coadjutor. I always knew that you 
were a man moulded after a big type, and as such 
you have always commanded my affection and ad- 
miration ; and now you have sealed and confirmed 
it in giving your coadjutor such a large and gen- 
erous part of the diocesan work. May God give 
me grace and strength to pursue it in that same 

X87 



i88 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

wise, broadminded, and faithful manner which has 
always characterized your own administration. 

I want to assure you also, although it is not 
necessary, that in doing the work which you have 
assigned to me, I shall always be in every act and 
word your staunch and loyal friend. I don't know 
when the consecration will take place; but when- 
ever it does, you of course will be the consecrating 
bishop. At least, I earnestly hope so. This is 
not only my own personal wish, but will be I am 
sure the desire of everyone else. I presume that 
it is hardly necessary for me to say this, but 
I wanted to let you know my feelings in the 
matter. 

If it is agreeable to you, I should also like to 
have the consecration take place at St. Bartholo- 
mew's, where I have lived and loved and been 
loved for the past fifteen years. I shall try to see 
you shortly after I go to town, to talk over matters 
with you. 

With the prayer that God may keep you in 
health and strength, and spare you for many 
years, believe me always, my dear Bishop, 
Sincerely and affectionately yours, 
David H. Greer 

Dr. Greer was consecrated Bishop at St. Bartholo- 
mew's Church, on Tuesday morning, January 26, 1904. 
The attending presbyters were Dr. Dix and Dr. Hunt- 



THE BISHOPRIC 189 

ington, who had nominated him for the office. The 
Bishops presenting him were Dr. Leonard sind Dr. 
Mackay-Smith (Bishop Lawrence, who was to have 
been one of the presenters, was detained by illness); 
the preacher was Bishop Doane. The Consecrators 
were Dr. Potter, Bishop of the diocese; Dr. Doane, 
Bishop of Albany; and Dr. Whitaker, Bishop of Penn- 
sylvania. Bishop Whitaker, at the last moment, took 
the place of Bishop Dudley, who died suddenly just be- 
fore the consecration. Dr. Harris read the certificate 
of election for the Diocese of New York, and Dr. Nel- 
son acted as Deputy Registrar. Dr. J. Lewis Parks 
read the consents of the dioceses, and George Za- 
briskie, Esq., read the testimonial from the Standing 
Committee. About five hundred clergy were present, 
and a number of bishops, including not only the clergy 
of the diocese but many intimate friends beyond it. 
The deep feeling of the congregation was voiced by 
Bishop Doane in the concluding paragraph of his ser- 
mon: 

You will forgive me, my dear brother, if aught 
that I have said of you appear unseemly. I am 
but speaking for the bishop, for the diocese, for 
this great parish, and speaking with due restraint, 
because I am speaking in your presence, and in 
your Master's and mine. For the rest, all that 
I have spoken has been for you, as expressing 
what I know to be the sacred purpose and the 



I90 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

secret power of all your ministry. Coming into 
this great diocese, with its complete organization, 
to lift the burden in part of an administration 
which is distinguished for its wisdom, its ability 
and its power throughout the American Church, 
there is no sign lacking of promise or of possi- 
bility in the future to which God beckons you to- 
day. To you, I have but this to say, that with 
a sense of intense satisfaction I bid you welcome 
out of the closeness of the true love and sympathy 
which has held me to you now for many years, 
into the brotherhood of the episcopate, with the 
personal tie made stronger and the bond still 
closer in the blessed burden of our common office. 

At first Bishop Greer was perplexed by the freedom 
from the heavy burdens which he had borne as rector 
of St. Bartholomew's. For some time he was not con- 
scious of the yoke of the new office. Meeting the 
Bishop of Massachusetts one day, he said, "Lawrence, 
what do you find to do as a bishop?" Bishop Law- 
rence answered, "Greer, if you don't find out in six 
months, let me know, and I'll tell you." 

He had said among his words of acceptance to the 
Convention which elected him, that he did not want 
to be a bishop. This was no perfunctory expression 
of humility. He really did not wish the office. He 
had yielded only to the persuasion of friends who had 
made him feel that it was his duty to become a bishop. 



THE BISHOPRIC 191 

On the afternoon of his consecration, at the luncheon 
which was given him, he confessed that he did not 
know how to say what would adequately express his 
feelings. "Some of you who know my views on the 
indissolubility of marriage," he said, "will believe me 
when I say that from this day I shall be wedded to 
you all, 'for better for worse, for richer for poorer, 
till death us do part.' " 



n 



SINCE Bishop Potter had assigned to the Co- 
adjutor the care of the city churches, Bishop 
Greer did not have long to wait in discovering 
the urgent need in that borough of the great city, called 
the Bronx. This part of New York was rapidly filling 
up with people of moderate means and with many who 
had been connected with the East Side chapels of the 
Manhattan parishes. Those who had once been par- 
ishioners of these East Side chapels, accustomed to 
large and beautiful churches, to prosperous organiza- 
tions and well-equipped buildings, found it difficult to 
transfer their allegiance to a small church to which 
was attached no more commodious hall than the musty 
room of a church basement, or, at best, a small frame 
building. There were a good many churches in the 
Bronx, but for the most part they were gasping for 
life, while hundreds of thousands of people were close 
to their doors. Naturally therefore both the clergy 
and the laity of the Bronx came to Bishop Greer cry- 
ing for help. They told pathetically of the dangerous 
dance halls which captivated many of the young 
people, who ought to have been guided, on weekdays 
as well as Sundays, by the loving protection of the 
Church. They asked for any kind of a building, how- 

XQa 



THE BISHOPRIC 193 

ever simple and cheap, which might shelter these young 
people on weekday evenings. The new bishop could 
not fail to think of the Parish House on East Forty- 
second Street, but he was not ambitious to reproduce 
so large a building. He thought that if he might se- 
cure a sufficient sum to purchase land and to erect a 
modest house he would be content. In some way the 
news of his tentative plan seeped into the newspapers, 
and almost immediately, while he was still struggling 
with the problem of raising the necessary money, he 
received this letter: 

Jcmy. 16, 1905 
Dear and Reverend Sir: 

I am quite anxious to see you in regard to the 
placing of a sum of money for church extension, 
and, if you will kindly grant me an audience after 
three P.M. on Wednesday, January 18, I will be 
greatly obliged. I would not ask an extension of 
your hours, only that I am in business and unable 
to leave earlier. 

I remain, very cordially yours, 

Elizabeth Coley 

Of Miss Coley before this he had never heard. She 
came at the appointed time, bringing him four hun- 
dred dollars in bills. This represented her savings, 
and she wanted him to use it for the new work in the 
Bronx. His heart was aglow with hope. If Miss 
Coley could help him thus lavishly what might not 



194 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

others do. He wrote Mr. James Stillman, who re- 
sponded immediately, with this note: 

Build the House, but raise a million. 
Matt. 17:20 

He did not raise a million, but additional gifts came 
within a few days, from Mr. Morgan, Mr. W. K. Van- 
derbilt, Mrs. W. D. Sloane, Mrs. Cochran, and Mrs. 
Huntington; and then came a large sum made up of 
small gifts. In all he received more than ten times as 
much as he had expected or dreamed. 

The criticism came later that he should have dis- 
tributed the money which was raised among the vari- 
ous parishes of the Bronx. What might not have been 
done, one after another exclaimed, if this sum could 
have been distributed for reinforcement! Bishop 
Greer anticipated this criticism. Indeed his first ap- 
peals for the borough had been for the individual 
parishes; but there was practically no response, be- 
cause such appeals were an old story and did not arouse 
the imagination of the generous people in the southern 
end of the island. Now, these generous givers dreamed 
what a central building might do for the Borough, and 
they gave, with the understanding that their gifts 
should be used for exactly that and nothing else. The 
Bishop hoped that the inevitable parochialism would 
expand into a loyalty for the whole Church in the 
Bronx. 




I1^ 

17 '11 

li " 



*■ STj 



5 ^^ ff ir 

ifflf fil fi _ 
» I ■ I "f 



f 




THE BRONX CHURCH HOUSE 



THE BISHOPRIC 195 

Sometimes it was thought that Bishop Greer was 
simply reproducing the parish house which had meant 
a wonderful advance to St. Bartholomew's. They 
thought that he expected the Bronx Church House to 
reproduce that success. He may have hoped it; but 
it was not his plan. To many, it seemed as if the 
Bronx Church House might be a unifying element 
which would provide strength for all the growing par- 
ishes within its district. The house met a real need. 
In September, the clergy would come to select dates 
when their parishes wished the use of the hall. When 
their requirements were "booked," the hall would be 
at the service of other Protestant congregations. The 
public schools also often used it for their Commence- 
ment dances. Benefits for hospitals, and, during the 
war, for the Red Cross, were constantly given here. 
Except in Lent, there was rarely a night, from Oc- 
tober to July, when the Hall was not in use. 

The war affected the Bronx Church House as it af- 
fected everything else. Most of the young men were 
gone. Moreover, the neighborhood was rapidly filling 
up with Hebrews, so that the situation of the House 
became inconvenient. No one has ever suggested a 
better location; for indeed the Bronx has no centre. 
To maintain the House, a large sum beyond the in- 
come on the endowment was needed; with the changed 
conditions it was decided that Bishop Greer's object 
could now be more fully secured by the sale of the 
House, so that the amount received, together with the 



196 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

endowment, might be set apart as a fund, the interest 
of which could be used for the reinforcement of the 
parishes in the Bronx. This was done in the year fol- 
lowing Bishop Greer's death. By the action of the 
Diocesan Convention of 1920, this fund received the 
name of The David Hummell Greer Memorial Fund. 

It is strange to discover how certain ends are at- 
tained through honest experiment. There is now a 
fund which will be a permanent blessing to the parishes 
of the Bronx; this fund grew out of the affection and 
trust which people gave to Bishop Greer. 

The Reverend John R. Atkinson, at one time pre- 
siding over the Bronx Church House, aptly sums up 
its work: 

When Bishop Greer assumed the office of 
Bishop Coadjutor, there were in the Bronx a few 
old parishes, and a number of comparatively new 
Chapels and Missions, which had been established 
or started to meet the needs of the people who had 
moved from Manhattan to occupy homes in what 
was then the "country." Few were strong enough 
to undertake any Institutional Work; so the 
Bishop conceived the plan of founding a large in- 
stitution which should group together all the work 
of that region so far as it concerned the needs of 
people between Sundays. The Bronx Church 
House was really a Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. 
joined in one institution, but doing the work for 



THE BISHOPRIC 197 

Church people primarily. In its early days it 
served a great purpose. It enabled hundreds, and 
sometimes thousands, of people to assemble for 
recreation of all sorts; gymnastics, dancing, 
games, theatricals, and a score of different diver- 
sions. There were dances when two thousand 
people assembled. There were theatrical perform- 
ances when a thousand or more were in the audi- 
ence. The building, which occupied a large 
portion of a city block, was humming with ac- 
tivity from Monday morning until Saturday night, 
and sometimes services were held on Sundays as 
well. Some of the most noted athletes of the 
country were trained in the Bronx Church House; 
and some of the finest women now engaged in so- 
cial and welfare work were inspired and equipped 
in this building. And so it continued for a course 
of eight or ten years. 

In process of time, as each parish gained 
strength, it desired, quite naturally, to keep all 
its activities within its own field and under its own 
direction. Then came the parting of the ways. 
The use of the Church House as a general gather- 
ing place for our own people lessened. 

Moreover, there had sprung up in the neighbor- 
hood a great Jewish population, alien, and some- 
times hostile. In the whole district where the 
Bronx Church House stood there was probably 
not one Christian family in ten. So it came to 



198 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

pass that in the last years of its career, it lost in 
membership, in income, and in value to the com- 
munity. 

I well remember the last time Bishop Greer 
visited the House, on Founders' Day, October, 
191 7. There were nearly two thousand people in 
the building, gathered to hear an address from 
the Bishop, and never did he speak more joyously 
and intimately than on that occasion. He had a 
glimpse of the House as he meant it to be at all 
times. The aim of that celebration was to give 
on the stage an exhibit of the various activities 
of the institution from the exercises of the chil- 
dren of the kindergarten by a graduated course 
up to the classic dancing of the young women 
and the feats of strength of the young men. The 
things that excited the Bishop most, apparently, 
were the pugilistic encounters and the wrestling 
matches. He stood near the contestants on the 
stage, and he commented eagerly on the skill of 
the antagonists. 



m 



BEFORE Bishop Greer was consecrated, his in- 
timate friend of many years, Dr. Leighton 
Parks, had been called to succeed him as 
rector of St. Bartholomew's. There was therefore no 
break in the administration of the parish, and though 
Bishop Greer continued to live during the spring in 
the old rectory on Madison Avenue, Dr. Parks was at 
the helm, and the Bishop therefore had no anxiety 
whatever for the care of all his beloved people and in- 
stitutions. No one more than he rejoiced in the power 
which Dr. Parks brought to the parish. Singularly 
free of all the little envies and jealousies, he exulted 
in the success of his friend. 

Bishop and Mrs. Greer felt that the new rector 
would be much freer if the pew of the Bishop Co- 
adjutor were in some other parish than St. Barthol- 
omew's. 

The Bishop intimated to Dr. Huntington that he 
would like to be his parishioner, and therefore, the 
vestry of Grace Church, learning this desire, author- 
ized the following letter: 



199 



200 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Grace Church Rectory 
New York 

Oct. 27, 1905 
Dear Bishop Greer: 

We, the undersigned, Rector and Wardens of 
Grace Church, having learned that you and your 
family would like to identify yourselves with 
Grace Parish, have much pleasure, in behalf of the 
Corporation, in assigning for your use pew No. 
38, free of rent. 

Hoping that you and your family will speedily 
come to feel at home with us, and may enjoy the 
occupancy of the pew for years to come, we re- 
main. 

Most truly yours, 

W. R. Huntington 
J. Frederic Kernochan 
Wm. R. Stewart 
The Rt. Reverend 
David H. Greer D.D. 

The Bishop lived in Gramercy Park, in a large house 
on the southwest corner, until 191 2; and then, when 
this house was torn down, removed to Thirty-three, 
Fifth Avenue. In 1914 he removed to the Bishop's 
House in the Cathedral Close, at One Hundred and 
Tenth Street. For nine years, therefore, the Bishop 
and his family occupied the front pew of the south 



THE BISHOPRIC 201 

transept of Grace Church, which now bears his name. 
Mrs. Greer was always there, and whenever he was 
not officiating himself the Bishop would be beside her. 
The vestry valued this association with the Bishop; 
and when the time came for the removal, he wrote: 
"I do not find much difficulty in adapting myself to 
the new conditions, yet in this case it will not be easy, 
because it will involve my parochial severance with 
Grace Church. I want the vestry to know how deeply 
grateful I am for their kindness." 



IV 

A BISHOP of New York has heavy respon- 
sibilities towards the community. The 
public dinners which he is expected to eat 
and the speeches which he is expected to make are the 
least arduous. The appeals which reach him for di- 
rect personal help or for the initiation of some neces- 
sary movement are the real tests of his power. Often 
the public, even the Church, knows little of what he 
has accomplished, but his wisdom and sanity may go 
far towards the public good. 

In 1906, the Judges of the Children's Courts ap- 
pealed to Bishop Greer to establish a protectory for 
Protestant children who have no proper care at their 
so-called homes. The plea was not for misdemean- 
ants but for children of neglect, who were committed 
by the Courts to some institution in order that they 
might have a chance to grow into right-minded citizens, 
and, wherever possible, to be taught in the faith of 
their parents. The Jews and Roman Catholics had 
already made provision for their children, but the 
homes for Protestants had been altogether too few and 
too small. Acting under this impulse Bishop Greer 
founded Hope Farm. He started the enterprise on 
faith, borrowing sixteen thousand dollars with which 



THE BISHOPRIC 203 

to purchase the Priory Farm at Verbank, Dutchess 
County, which had been offered him for Church or 
charitable purposes. There were some buildings in 
fair repair on the grounds, and more buildings were 
gradually added, till now it has six houses where chil- 
dren live, six cottages for workers (farmers and la- 
borers), a large administration building, which includes 
a store, a bakery, laundry, infirmary, and quarantine 
house; a school building, a workshop, a residence for 
teachers, and a chapel which is called the Chapel of 
the Child. The farm itself now covers eight hundred 
acres. 

Protestant children of every name are admitted. The 
city pays an amount for each child committed by the 
Courts, but this sum by no means covers the expense 
even for these particular children. The endowment 
is comparatively small, and the support of the work is 
largely from voluntary contributions and subscriptions. 
The Bishop's own words, from one of the annual re- 
ports, will best tell the range and the spirit of the 
work: 

Hope Farm consists of nearly six hundred 
acres, and the boys are employed to a very large 
extent in cultivating the farm; in this way, raising 
not only all the vegetables needed for home con- 
sumption, but acquiring at the same time an ad- 
mirable and useful training. The girls are em- 
ployed in household work, and acquire a good 



204 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

and useful rudimentary knowledge in domestic 
science. 

The children to whom we minister at the Farm 
receive also an academic education, which is equal 
to that of our public schools. These children are 
not juvenile criminals or delinquents, but simply 
children of neglect, who are taken away from their 
homes, if they can be so called, where they do not 
receive the care that a child deserves, and are 
placed under our protection. It is not an institu- 
tion; it is, in the best and truest sense of the word, 
a home, where, although living in different cot- 
tages, the children are all members of one great 
human family. 

This work was close to the heart of Bishop Greer. 
He always presided at the monthly meetings of the 
Board. It was singularly fitting that the first memorial 
proposed for him was an additional house for this 
Farm. 

Another institution which Bishop Greer founded for 
the community at large was the Three Arts Club. 
Deaconess Hall, who was working in All Souls' Church, 
Manhattan, had been interested in art students, and 
had attempted to make a home for them. She rented 
an apartment and had a few young women in her care, 
but the struggle was too much for a deaconess. She 
was overwhelmed with appeals from mothers who 
wished their daughters to be under the shelter of 



THE BISHOPRIC 205 

Church influences. Bishop Greer learned of her ex- 
cellent plan and of its risk of failure. He therefore 
determined to put himself behind it. As in the case 
of Hope Farm, he appointed a Board, of which he him- 
self was chairman. The members of the Board were 
all of his own Church. A house was rented, and so 
quickly filled with students that two adjoining houses 
were rented, and immediately filled. A few years later 
several houses were bought outright, and the Club is 
now so thoroughly established that its permanency is 
assured. The three arts represented are Music, Drama, 
and Painting. 

The work in the general Church which impressed 
him as most necessary at this time was the Church In- 
stitute for Negroes. From the beginning of the Insti- 
tute he was its President. The Institute is not a single 
institution, but is the union of all schools for negroes 
in the South under the auspices of the Episcopal 
Church so far as these schools comply with the re- 
quirements of the Institute. Through the Institute the 
Episcopal Church does a very much larger work than 
is done at Tuskegee. Bishop Greer was so far con- 
vinced of its importance not only for the negroes them- 
selves but through them for the Nation, that he was 
often heard to say that, if he could, he would resign 
the bishopric of New York, and give every moment of 
his time to the Church Institute for Negroes. The 
Bishop showed his vision and his accurate, practical 



2o6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

business sense in the organization of this important 
merger. 

The Church Institute for Negroes recalls Bishop 
Greer's interest in the whole subject of Missions, both 
domestic and foreign. For a long time Bishop Lloyd 
was the executive officer of the Board of Missions. 
His testimony concerning Bishop Greer as a member 
of the Board and as the founder of the Church Insti- 
tute for Negroes is valuable: 

Bishop Lawrence is right: Bishop Greer always 
had large and clear views of the Church and its 
work. I do not recall a time when he was drawn 
aside by irrelevant matters. Indeed in all his 
words he seemed to have clearly before him the 
fundamental truth that its Mission was the 
Church's reason for being, and that its fidelity is 
tested most surely by its jealousy for that Mis- 
sion's welfare. This meant that Bishop Greer al- 
ways lent a sympathetic ear to any proposal to 
strengthen the work; and saved him from the 
snare which tangles many, that the Church's work 
must wait the gifts of those who choose to make 
them. 

Bishop Greer had fixed faith in the willingness 
of the people to provide the means for any reason- 
able undertaking, if they knew about it, so that 
he was the warm advocate of any endeavor to 
teach the people and to give these a chance to help 



THE BISHOPRIC 207 

without being dictated to. This was the motive 
that made him an enthusiastic supporter of the 
"Nation Wide Campaign" from its inception. 
Till the end came to him those carrying the bur- 
den of that work had his keen support. 

Perhaps the most evident proof of his fidelity 
to the paramount work of the Church, was his 
faithfulness in attending the meetings of the 
Board of Missions, and in the performance of any 
duty which the Board laid upon him. To any one 
who has the least acquaintance with the load 
carried by the Bishop of New York this alone will 
be sufficient evidence of the man's clear appre- 
hension of the task our Lord intrusted to His 
Body, and the reverence with which the servant 
strove to do his Master's will. 

The American Church Institute for Negroes 
was the creation of Bishop Greer, supported by 
Mr. George Foster Peabody. The Bishop was con- 
vinced that the Church's people would not divert 
their gifts to institutions outside the Church, nor 
leave its own institutions to suffer, if they knew 
what was going on and were assured that their 
gifts were administered by men who understood 
the problems involved. His faith in these institu- 
tions born of his intimate knowledge of them 
made him sure that a wise policy would win the 
same confidence on the part of the whole Church. 

Bishop Greer was the President of that board 



2o8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

of trustees until his death, and never spared him- 
self in the work which he did on its behalf. The 
fashion in which the work has grown which the 
Church is doing to help the Negroes make their 
children good citizens, is eloquent proof of the 
man's wisdom and statesmanship. 

Bishop Greer was so unassuming in his life, 
and so modest in all that he did and said, that the 
Church hardly knew how there were combined in 
him so much of the prophet and statesman. No 
man knows better than I do what the Church 
owes to Bishop Greer's fidelity and understanding 
of what it means to be a Christian. 

A still more interesting light is thrown upon his atti- 
tude towards the missionaries themselves, by this re- 
port of Bishop Brent: 

I did not get to know Dr. Greer until the time 
of my own call to the Philippines and his which 
came shortly after to New York. I was with him 
during some of the days in which he was agoniz- 
ing over his problem. I was struck then by his 
simplicity of approach to so momentous a deci- 
sion. It caused him a great deal of inner pain 
but he reached his solution by that directness 
that was characteristic of him. Side issues were 
recognized as side issues. To him the whole 
matter was one of service. 



THE BISHOPRIC 209 

I remember going with him to a meeting of the 
New York Chamber of Commerce given in honor 
of John Morley. Much was said by Mr. Root, 
Mr. Morley, and other speakers on the elements 
that made for a great country. Bishop Greer 
was the last speaker. He began by saying that 
there was but one solid foundation for national 
greatness and that was Christian manhood. He 
enlarged on his theme and held from first to last 
the attention of the heterogeneous assembly, most 
of which was made up of men in big business. 

I was treated always as a member of the family. 
Whenever I was in America those hospitable doors 
of his home were wide open to me to come and 
go as I chose. In the intervals which I spent in 
the Far East we had but little correspondence 
with one another, but upon my arrival in this 
country I always looked forward to renewing 
fellowship with one who grew to be more and 
more a dear and intimate friend. Though my 
senior by many years I could never think of him 
as old. His alert mind and clear vision were al- 
ways reaching out and grappling with modern 
problems. He helped me as I am sure he helped 
many another man through the mazes of modern 
life to a simpler and truer outlook than one would 
otherwise have reached. If I had any special puz- 
zles troubling me I used to unload them on him. 
It was to him I went as the last adviser before 



2IO DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

accepting the Philippines; it was to him I went 
as my last adviser before relinquishing my task. 

His belief in the world-wide mission of the 
Church was not a mere matter of theory; it was 
the background of all his thinking and his work 
was shaped in terms of the universal. He was a 
loyal son of the Church, that loyalty expressing 
itself in his absolute confidence that it could and 
would do the work which it was commissioned to 
do. Sometimes I expressed doubts relative to this 
or that matter. He in a gentle way rebuked me 
by repeating over and over again at different 
times, "Trust the Church, trust the Church." 
There was a strong strain of transcendentalism 
running through his life which enabled him tcf per- 
ceive things in the large. 

The last word I had from him was over the 
telephone upon my return from France. He was 
anxious in some way to do me honor in a public 
way, something from which I shrank but some- 
thing which he had very much at heart. The day 
was fixed when I was to meet him in New York 
and he was to preside at a dinner where it was 
planned that I should be chief guest. But the 
sands of life had been running out rapidly and 
when I went to New York it was not to sit at a 
festival board with him but to take part in the 
service which committed his body to its last rest- 
ing place. 



THE BISHOPRIC 211 

I cannot speak of him without speaking of his 
wonderful home. His wife always stood to me in 
the human guise of a fair lily, and as from time 
to time I visited her and saw her fading away it 
was as though the chill fall had come to despoil a 
lovely garden and take away its queen flower. 
There was fragrance in that home such as might 
be coveted by all who have high aspiration for the 
family. I suppose that no more desirable tribute 
can be paid a man than to say that as a husband 
and parent he interpreted the Christian conception 
of life. 

Dr. Lines, the Bishop of Newark, as a close friend 
and neighbor, was also watching Bishop Greer, as they 
attended the long meetings in the Church Missions 
House on Fourth Avenue in New York. Bishop Lines 
writes: 

It is a great privilege to write of Bishop Greer 
and of my association with him in any way. It 
makes life richer to think of having been within 
the range of his friendship, and of having been 
connected with him in any form of service. The 
remembrance of him brings light and help into 
life, and out of the land of silence he still speaks 
to those who knew him and worked with him. 

In the work of the Mission Board of the 
Church, he was deeply interested, always plead- 



212 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

ing for a large and generous policy, while mindful 
of the conditions, resources, and willingness of the 
church to give. Whenever the need of contraction 
or delay or economy came, he recognized it with 
regret, while he always spoke with courage and 
appreciation of the large mission of the Church 
for which the Board must plan. His heart often 
moved him from the rigid judgment which the 
facts seemed to demand, and often when the 
Board could not do what seemed necessary he as- 
sumed responsibility for the Diocese of New York 
that the work might not suffer. Deference was 
given to him not because he was Bishop of New 
York, but because of the profound respect for 
him, because of his large and generous outlook, 
and his willingness to accept full responsibility 
that the Church might go forward. He was free 
from narrowness and timidity, while always 
thoughtful and wise in judgment. No man did 
more than he to keep out of the Board of Missions 
narrow ecclesiasticism, prejudice, and whatever 
marred the life of the Church, and hindered its 
progress. He took within his friendship those 
from whom he differed very greatly in opinion. 
He did much to make the Church a large place, 
and to keep the Board of Missions free from par- 
tisanship. He was much more anxious to have 
the work of the Church go on in any way which 
opened, than in his way, and to support men who 



THE BISHOPRIC 213 

saw things differently from himself, than to apply 
to them his own personal standards. A man of 
large vision and generous outlook, he did much to 
make the Church the home of many kinds of 
people. 

With one form of service in the Church, his 
name ought always to be closely associated. 
That was the service of the colored people in the 
South. He was long chairman of the committee 
in the Board of Missions on the work among the 
colored people, and was deeply interested in every 
phase of it, especially in our schools in the South. 
He saw great institutions founded in the South 
outside our own Church, and very generously sup- 
ported by our Church people, while our own 
schools were left in poverty to struggle for their 
existence. He rejoiced in what was being done 
outside this Church, but he had a strong desire 
to bring home to our people, their own responsi- 
bility. He believed also that the growth of the 
Episcopal Church among the negroes meant good 
for them and for the country also. So the thought 
came to him and originated with him, as one 
closely associated with him may testify, — to take 
the existing Church schools in the South and form 
them into an Institute, leaving them where they 
were established, whether at Petersburg, Law- 
renceville, Raleigh, Columbia, Brunswick, Bir- 
mingham, or Vicksburg (to name only those which 



214 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

came into consideration in his own time). He 
felt rightly, that the work done in these schools 
in simple and economical ways might mean as 
much for the colored people as great institutions 
like Hampton and Tuskegee, though for these he 
had no lack of respect and good will. 

The Institute could hardly have been worked 
out as a department of the Board of Missions at 
that time. Two visits at least, — as I well re- 
member as a fellow visitor, — he made to the 
schools in Virginia and North Carolina, and 
nothing could exceed his personal interest in the 
instructors and pupils, and in the details of ad- 
ministration. The schools owe him a debt of 
gratitude for what he did through the Institute 
and in other ways to meet their needs and to en- 
courage them. Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson was the 
legal adviser of Bishop Greer and a Virginia 
charter of the Church Institute for Colored 
Schools was obtained through him, with thought 
of present conditions and future possibilities. The 
purpose in Bishop Greer's mind was not the es- 
tablishment and support of parochial schools and 
primary education, for which he hoped the south- 
ern states would in time make ample provision, but 
the training of ministers, teachers, nurses, pro- 
fessional men and women, provision for vocational 
education, the fitting of men and women to be 
leaders in all useful callings in life, — for ex- 



THE BISHOPRIC 215 

ample, clergymen at Petersburg, farmers and me- 
chanics at Lawrenceville, teachers and nurses at 
Raleigh, and in the other schools also. To 
the schools just named and those farther south, 
he thought that promising boys and girls might 
come from the parochial and lower grade schools, 
and so the Church might help to raise up under 
the influence of religion, with a high sense of re- 
sponsibility, a great company of good and useful 
men and women. 

Let Bishop Greer always be thought of as hav- 
ing thought this out and made the beginning. He 
lived to see a great deal accomplished, and there 
are, all over the south and north, men and women 
who have come through these Church schools for 
their own great good, and for the good of the 
Church and the Country. The schools have strug- 
gled on, never having the resources which they 
needed and deserved, but they have done and are 
doing good and large work with insufficient sup- 
port. Bishop Greer felt that as compared with 
the great need, only a beginning has been made, 
and there was disappointment because the church 
had not responded more generously to the appeal 
and opportunity. The accomplishment, however, 
has been great already, and the true course of the 
Church has been determined, as those who have 
studied it most closely, laymen like Dr. James H. 
Dillard and George Foster Peabody, for example, 



2i6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

who knew the need of the negro people in the 
South as well as any persons who can be named, 
would testify. 

So let the Institute for the Colored Schools be 
associated with Bishop Greer, and let those who 
would honor his memory have generous thought 
for the great work which owes its beginning to 
him. No form of service had a larger place in 
the mind and heart of Bishop Greer, than the serv- 
ice of our negro people. 

The Rev. A. B. Hunter, formerly Principal of St. 
Augustine's School, Raleigh, has told how thorough the 
Bishop was in his investigation of the Negro Schools: 

I think it was in the spring of 1906 or 1907 that 
Bishop Greer, Bishop Lines, and Bishop Burgess, 
as a Committee of the Board of Missions, to in- 
vestigate the condition of the Negro Schools of the 
Church, came to Raleigh to visit St. Augustine's 
School. We had invited a number of gentlemen of 
Raleigh to meet them at luncheon, and Mrs. 
Hunter had prepared a Southern dish for them, — 
baked 'possum. Bishop Greer refused the dish 
when offered (some one said with a shudder). In 
the November following, I attended a meeting in 
Brooklyn, which was addressed by the Bishop in 
behalf of the newly formed American Church 
Institute for Negroes. Returning in the subway, 



THE BISHOPRIC 217 

the Bishop said to me, "Do you know, I have al- 
ways regretted that I did not taste the 'possum 
served at your house." Christmas was near, so 
we sent him a 'possum. It was acknowledged be- 
fore Christmas by a very polite note, saying it 
would grace his Christmas dinner table. Several 
years after, the Bishop introduced me to a meeting 
of the New York Woman's Auxiliary, alluded to 
the hospitality of Raleigh, and said, "They even 
serve 'possum to you there." When my turn came 
to speak, I told the ladies how the Bishop had 
acknowledged the 'possum sent to him, but had 
never told us whether he had eaten it for his 
Christmas dinner, and that to this day we did not 
know. "And you never will," said the Bishop, in 
a whisper to me as I was speaking. 

The colored people moved him. Once at a meeting 
in behalf of the Institute, some jubilee singers sang 
a song with the refrain, "I want to be like Jesus in 
my heart." Immediately after the song the Bishop 
rose to speak. "That," he said, "exactly expresses 
my feelings: 'I want to be like Jesus in my heart.' " 



BISHOP POTTER closed his remarkable Epis- 
copate in the summer of 1908. He died at 
Cooperstown, New York, on July 21, while 
Bishop Greer was in London at the Lambeth Confer- 
ence. Archdeacon Burch was in Oxford when the news 
came, and telephoned to London to ask the Bishop if 
he could do anything. "No," he answered, "none of 
us can do anything. I am overwhelmed." Two days 
later, he and Mrs. Greer came down to Oxford. He 
came to see Oxford, but his mind was in New York, 
and he even forgot to pay the cabman — a most un- 
usual form of absent-mindedness for him, for "cabbies" 
were to him people of much interest. In the little 
parlor at The Mitre he spoke with deep feeling: "It's 
awful," he said; "I don't see how I can do it." He 
was in evident health: it was the vision of what ought 
to be done which overcame him. He had the humility 
of a little child. 

As a matter of fact. Bishop Potter had delegated so 
much to the Coadjutor that though, after Bishop Greer 
became Diocesan, he had many more visitations to 
make, the responsibility was not much heavier than 
during the four years in which he had been Coadjutor. 

At the Diocesan Convention the following fall, 

218 



THE BISHOPRIC 219 

Bishop Greer expressed his admiration of his illustrious 
predecessor: he spoke of qualities that especially at- 
tracted him. He revealed his own enthusiasms: 

Bishop Potter was eminent as a Churchman, 
and loved his Church and served it; but his sym- 
pathies reached beyond it. They were very hu- 
man. And while he had his preferences, personal 
and social as well as religious, he showed this 
mark of a true human greatness, that he did not 
have exclusions; and without regard to creed or 
race he loved his fellow men, and was always 
ready to work with those of every name who, like 
himself, were working for the common human 
good. 

Someone has remarked that the man who never 
disagrees with the people and who shrinks from 
unpopularity as the worst of evils can never have 
a share in moulding the traditions of a strong and 
virile race. Bishop Potter did not shrink from 
impopularity: to those who did not know him well 
he seemed at times to court it. But not so; he 
was built on larger lines, and simply aimed to do 
and say, faithfully and fearlessly, what he deemed 
was right; and while ready to listen to reason to 
show that he was wrong, and quick and frank 
when convinced to acknowledge and to own it, 
no mere clamor could swerve him from his course. 

And yet, he was not a visionary. He believed 



2 20 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

that the Christian faith was something more than 
a theory; it was, he held, a force to be practically 
applied, which should energize in all the common 
relations of our social life, and which as such 
should help to solve all our social problems. Firm, 
staunch and strong in his own Christian faith, and 
foremost to defend it, he did not hold that faith 
apart from secular affairs, but rather sought to 
apply and introduce it there as the true and lawful 
sphere of its operation. He sought to give to the 
Christian faith its hands and its feet, to bring it 
down to earth, to make it walk and talk, not aca- 
demically and metaphysically, but practically and 
plainly and in the idiom of the people; and time 
and again the people sought his counsel and ad- 
vice, and sought it not in vain. 

He held that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all 
human life. 

When Bishop Greer took the complete charge of the 
diocese he was sixty-four years old, but in face and in 
figure he looked a young man. In the care of the whole 
diocese the hardest part to him was the administration 
of ecclesiastical discipline. To depose a man literally 
nearly killed him, tenderhearted, affectionate as he 
was. Even to reprimand a clergyman cost him sleep- 
less nights. His gentleness was fused with strength. 
Like a brave man providing "sanctuary," he would 
hold off the accuser, till he was sure which way lay 



THE BISHOPRIC 221 

truth and justice. He met in silence hasty demands 
and implied threats. The man who ultimately knew 
his discipline, knew his sternness as well as his mercy. 
When his blow fell, it was decisive: one suspects that, 
like a father, he exerted his most rigid discipline in 
secret. His courage was shown in his deliberate ex- 
ercise of the discipline which his office forced upon 
him. With an agony of thought and prayer he sought 
God's will, and did it. 

He was proud of the clergy, and was constantly tell- 
ing his friends of sermons he had heard them preach, 
of deeds he had witnessed, and of other deeds about 
which he had been told. Often the clergy themselves 
little suspected how truly he carried them day by day 
in his thoughts. Because he was full of sympathy, 
tolerance, and patience, his friends sometimes thought 
him lacking in discernment of character. One would 
hear from time to time, "He's no judge of men." No 
doubt he was sometimes deceived, but probably he saw 
more defects in the people with whom he came in con- 
tact than he would admit to anyone. Occasionally, 
cautious as he was, his real judgment would flash forth, 
and the listener would wonder if this could be Bishop 
Greer who was attaching spicy epithets to people of 
whom hitherto no detraction had been heard. He was 
so afraid of sentimentality that he sometimes seemed 
to be lacking in sentiment. He was intensely amused 
if anyone happened to ask him to come into the country 
because the appletrees were in blossom. His real sen- 



222 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

timent was kept for humanity; the superficial qualities 
which deceived others did not deceive him. At a Di- 
ocesan Convention, when during a missionary session 
he had resigned the chair to Mr. Stetson, and was sit- 
ting by the side of Bertrand Stevens, a clergyman 
rose to address the convention. "Our friend," writes 
Bishop Stevens, "was speaking with great eloquence 
and verbosity. I leaned over to the Bishop and quietly 
remarked that McCandless said that this particular 
man needed above everything to beware of the adjec- 
tive. 'Yes,' said Bishop Greer, 'he secretes them.' " 
When Bishop Greer was profoundly moved by the word 
or deed of anyone whom he admired, his highest praise 
was only, "He's a good man." 

Though Bishop Greer was a liberal, he was tena- 
cious of the respect due to canon law. Whether he 
himself thought the law the best law that could be made 
was quite apart. The law having been made, he, and 
all who were responsible to him, were bound to keep 
it. He allowed special services in the cathedral with 
addresses by men not of our Communion. He did 
this not wantonly, but only under what he understood 
to be the provisions of the canon. He was scrupulous 
in all the details of his office. When he was asked to 
give permission for this or that innovation in a service 
he would frankly say that he had no authority, and 
he would not even give advice. "If you depart," he 
would say, "from the law of the Church, you must do 
it upon your own responsibility." In even slight 



THE BISHOPRIC 223 

matters he was surefooted and canny. Before the 
General Convention had authorized the permissive use, 
a rector asked his advice about having the general 
Thanksgiving said by all the people. The Bishop said, 
judicially, "I cannot advise you; of course I cannot 
give you authority to do it." Then he smiled, "I will 
say," he added, "we used to do it at St. Bar- 
tholomew's." 

In the spring of 1901, Bishop Greer had imdergone 
a serious operation on the left eye for glaucoma. Five 
years later, in 1906, he underwent a similar operation 
upon the right eye. One day a physician said to 
Bishop Greer, "Have you had glaucoma?" When the 
Bishop answered, "Yes," the physician went on, "In 
one eye, I suppose." "No," was the reply, "in both." 
"And you are doing work?" "Doing full work," said 
the Bishop. "Well," the doctor said, "you are the first 
man I ever met who has been operated on for glaucoma 
in both eyes and who is doing full work." 

Notwithstanding the warning which came to him 
through his eyes, he determined, for a time at least, 
to administer the diocese alone. This resolution was 
fixed by the gift of a motor whereby he could be carried 
swiftly to his many meetings and to his visitations. He 
might have continued this work so far as his body was 
concerned had he been able to steel his heart against 
the agony of ecclesiastical discipline. He broke down 
in the spring of 19 10. He knew that, willing as he 
was to make every sacrifice, he could not alone do the 



224 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

work, even with the help of the Archdeacons, Dr. Nel- 
son of New York, Dr. Thomas of Orange, Dr. Van 
Kleeck of Westchester, Dr. Ashton of Dutchess, and 
Dr. Burch of Richmond.* The General Convention 
was to meet in October at Cincinnati. A new canon, 
providing for Suffragan Bishops, was then to be acted 
upon finally. With Bishop Edsall of Minnesota, who 
wished a suffragan in his large western diocese, he 
pleaded with the House of Bishops to grant an officer 
who would also be useful in great metropolitan sees. 
The opposition was strong, but the sincerity and 
earnestness of Bishop Greer and Bishop Edsall carried 
the day. Suffragan Bishops were authorized. 

It was known after the General Convention that 
Bishop Greer would ask for a Suffragan. When the 
Diocesan Convention met at Synod Hall on the 
Cathedral Grounds, November 9, 1910, the news was 
spread that Bishop Greer would be grateful if Arch- 
deacon Burch of Staten Island could be his Suffragan. 
Dr. Burch was elected on the following day, and was 
consecrated Bishop in Grace Church, New York, on 
February 24, 191 1. Bishop Doane preached the ser- 
mon. Bishop Greer felt that his old friend would be 
gratified to preach the sermon at the consecration of 
the first Suffragan Bishop in our Church in America. 
As the Diocesan and his Suffragan marched out of the 

♦When Dr. Burch was elected Suffragan Bishop, two Ardi- 
deacons were appointed to cover the whole diocese: Dr. Pott and 
Mr. Hulse. Later still, Dr. Pott was the only Archdeacon in the 
diocese, upon Mr. Hulse's consecration as Bishop of Cuba. 



THE BISHOPRIC 225 

church together, Bishop Greer's medium height over- 
shadowed by the very tall Bishop who had just been 
consecrated, someone remarked, "David and Goliath." 
"No, no," said Bishop Greer; "David and Jonathan." 
So he expressed the relationship of friendship and trust 
with which he entered into the years which were to 
follow with Bishop Burch's imfailing help. Bishop 
Greer clearly defined in the beginning that Bishop 
Burch was to do anything which he assigned him. 
Many a day the Suffragan Bishop did not know in the 
morning what he might be called upon to do in the 
afternoon. Bishop Burch has borne his testimony: "He 
never ordered me, or said, 'I want you to do this.' It 
was always. 'Can you do this, with the other things you 
have to do?' Or, 'Are you too tired to add this to 
your work for the day?' " Because both men forgot 
themselves in a common service to the Church, the 
details of diocesan work were met as perhaps never 
before; for though Bishop Greer was unable very often 
to travel long distances to meet appointments for con- 
firmations, his office work and the work of adminis- 
tration went on almost without interruption, even in 
weeks when most men would have been cut off from 
every care. Bishop Burch, in spite of regular routine, 
was always ready to come to special Confirmations, 
and thus helped not only the Diocesan but all the 
clergy. Probably no one but himself will ever know 
how crowded with service were the eight years when 
he was aiding Bishop Greer as Suffragan Bishop. 



VI 

MANY parishes in the diocese were oppressed 
by the fact of the mortgages upon their 
property, even though they were held by 
so benevolent a corporation as Trinity Parish. Dr. 
Dix, it will be remembered, nominated Dr. Greer as 
Bishop of the diocese, and as long as he lived his af- 
fectionate interest in the new Bishop was constant. 
When Dr. Manning was chosen first Bishop of Harris- 
burg, Dr. Dix appealed to Bishop Greer to use all his 
influence to keep Dr. Manning from leaving Trinity 
Parish. It was largely due to Bishop Greer that Dr. 
Manning was made assistant rector of Trinity Parish 
with the right of succession. Throughout his bishopric 
therefore Bishop Greer was uncommonly close to the 
mother parish of the diocese. He could be sure that 
if he made an appeal to the rector and vestry, every- 
thing possible would be done to comply with his wishes. 
To them, therefore, he appealed for these burdened 
parishes. In the fall of 1909, the vestry of Trinity 
Church generously cancelled the mortgages which were 
held against eighteen parishes in the City of New York, 
and others outside the city and diocese. This was an 
interpretation of the just responsibility of the huge 
endowment of Trinity Parish, which commanded the 
respect of the whole Church. 

226 



THE BISHOPRIC 227 

In a city like New York, where tides of population 
often recede from ancient parishes, there is a con- 
tinual appeal to dispose of Church property and to use 
the money either in some other form of work or in 
other parishes. Against this tendency Bishop Greer 
set his face like a flint. It was more than a sentiment 
with him, that a building consecrated not only by the 
formal setting apart but also by the lives of good men, 
should not lose its place in the on-going life of the 
city. When in the case of All Souls' on Madison 
Avenue the property was sold, the largest portion of 
the amount was given to the Church of the Archangel, 
upon the condition that the name "All Souls' Church 
(Anthon Memorial)" should be perpetuated. This 
church is at St. Nicholas Avenue and One Hundred 
and Fourteenth Street. The remainder of the sum 
was divided among the churches nearest, — St. Mary's, 
Manhattan ville; and St. Andrew's and Holy Trinity, 
Harlem. The Bishop pleaded that the whole sum be 
given to the Church in the Bronx, but he was grateful 
to have the gifts of former parishioners conserved for 
the work of these important neighboring parishes. 

When the Church of the Intercession, at Broadway 
and One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Street, with a large 
and loyal congregation, under the rectorship of the 
Reverend Dr. Milo H. Gates, was embarrassed by its 
debt and its inability to enlarge its building for the 
rapidly growing congregation, Bishop Greer approved 
the plan for its adoption by Trinity Parish as one of 



228 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

its chapels. Trinity Parish was enthusiastic, because, 
by placing a great church in Trinity Cemetery, the 
rights of the cemetery to remain a churchyard would 
be undisputed. The magnificent church which was 
ultimately built by Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, under 
the personal direction of Dr. Gates, was consecrated 
on May 25, 1915, and is one of the notable churches 
of the city. 

Bishop Greer was deeply interested in maintaining 
Christ Church at its strategic point, at the corner of 
Seventy-first Street and Broadway. This venerable 
parish was started in Anthony Street in 1793; it moved 
to West Eighteenth Street in 1852; later it moved to 
Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street; finally, in 1890, 
to anticipate the growing needs of the city, it moved 
to its present site, where it dominates a central and 
conspicuous neighborhood. St. Andrew's, at Fifth 
Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Street, 
also had his sympathetic cooperation in its struggle 
against a rapidly changing neighborhood. Its stately 
church, hallowed by years of sacred association, he 
felt must be conserved if possible for future genera- 
tions. In the southern end of the city, at Henry and 
Scammell Streets, was the old Church of All Saints, 
deserted by all the families whose ancestors had wor- 
shipped there, but still more than a landmark, because 
it ministered to the people living in its vicinity. 

Old St. John's, on Varick Street, vanished, because 
the Vestry of Trinity Church, who were responsible 



THE BISHOPRIC 229 

for it, believed that they could not honestly use their 
endowment to maintain a building which would be 
more of a monument than a place of worship; and 
other chapels of Trinity Parish were near enough to 
minister to all the needs of the people who formerly had 
called St. John's their own. With the Vestry and all 
other loyal citizens of New York, he regretted the loss 
of an interesting landmark; but he felt with the Vestry 
that the service to human souls was the paramount 
duty of a religious corporation. 

The Bishop rejoiced in preaching the sermon at the 
consecration of the new St. Thomas's Church, at Fifth 
Avenue and Fifty-third Street. He counted it a nota- 
ble asset for the diocese that, under the leadership of 
Dr. Stires, this distinguished church, designed by 
Messrs. Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, should rise 
upon the ashes of the church burned in 1905. The 
old church was destroyed one summer morning. Be- 
fore the parishioners returned in the fall, a temporary 
structure within the nave invited them to worship. 
The new church rose around this frame building. Thus 
worship went on continuously on a spot hallowed by 
a long period of parochial life. How deeply Bishop 
Greer felt the importance of the achievement is shown 
by these words from his sermon on that happy day: 

Why do I bring, my friends, this message to- 
day to you, on this eventful day in your parish 
life? Because you are what you are, a great 



230 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

parish, with a great far-reaching influence. The 
adjective is not carelessly but carefully and with 
deliberate judgment chosen. Your building is 
great, your membership is great, your resourceful- 
ness is great; and, situated as you are, on one of 
the great thoroughfares of this community and 
this country, like a city set on a hill, your example 
cannot be, in its reach and scope, otherwise than 
great. But better and more than this, you have, 
and have shown, in your parish life, a great poten- 
tial energy, a great spiritual and vital force, which, 
in the face of circumstances calculated to dissolve, 
scatter and disintegrate — as when on a summer 
night your beautiful building went up in flames — 
still held you together in one great corporate life, 
unbroken and unimpaired. All this I may be per- 
mitted to say, as voicing you on this occasion as 
well as myself, is, with the gracious help and guid- 
ance of God, in large measure due to the brave, 
indomitable, and indefatigable leadership of your 
Rector. 

Because therefore you are all this, with great 
possibilities in you and great opportunities before 
you, you have it in your power to enforce, and 
by your example to commend to the Church at 
large today, this timely and this needed message 
of St. James, — Be ye doers of the Word; Be ye 
doers of the Word, and not hearers only! 



THE BISHOPRIC 231 

The Bishop's old parish, St. Bartholomew's, after 
deciding to remain at Madison Avenue and Forty- 
fourth Street, suddenly discovered that wisdom re- 
quired a new church on a more ample site. So the 
ground bounded by Park Avenue, Fiftieth and Fifty- 
first Streets, was bought. The striking memorial to 
Cornelius Vanderbilt was removed thither, and a new 
church, designed by Mr. Bertram Goodhue, was built 
behind it. On the day when the Vestry decided that 
the venture should be declared to the congregation, the 
old rector joined the present rector in pleading that 
the large amount needed be given, not only for the 
sake of the parish but for the sake of the Church at 
large, that on the imposing thoroughfare of Park 
Avenue there might be a church which should com- 
mand the respect of the thousands who would pass it 
daily. The two sermons occupied together more than 
an hour, and a restless small boy, closing his fist tightly 
on a quarter dollar and hearing one of the preachers 
say, "At first we shall expect only very large gifts," 
whispered to his mother, "Mother, that lets us out; 
let's go home." The foundation stone of the new 
church was laid in May 191 7. Even the awning which 
had been placed for the clergy and choir would not 
keep out the rain, and the Bishop stood under an um- 
brella to make his address. He was not well, and every- 
one knew that he should not be there, but he would 
not stay away from his beloved parish on its great day. 

On Sunday morning, October 20, 191 8, he preached 



232 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

the sermon at the formal opening of the new St. Bar- 
tholomew's for public worship. Inevitably he ex- 
pressed his personal relationship to a parish which had 
once been his cure. 

The Church of the Holy Communion, associated 
with the memorable traditions of Dr. Muhlenberg, 
and now for many years under the guidance of Dr. 
Mottet, was to Bishop Greer one of the most sacred 
spots in the diocese. It was the first free church in 
America. While the people still lived hard by, ade- 
quate support was easily forthcoming; but shops 
thrust themselves in, only to be followed by factories; 
and the people moved far away. Dr. Mottet appealed 
for an endowment. In place of the one hundred thou- 
sand asked for, all sorts of people within and without 
our Communion gave over half a million dollars. 
Then, under Dr. Mottet's leadership, the church was 
beautified as a token of thanksgiving. Today the old 
church is "all glorious within," one of the most radi- 
ant of parish churches anywhere. Bishop Greer came 
to conduct a service hallowing all these changes. To 
make permanent a church with such important associ- 
ations as this and to ensure for ever its adequate main- 
tenance, was an achievement which adds one more dis- 
tinction to the years in which Dr. Greer was Bishop 
of New York. 



VII 

BISHOP GREER'S episcopate will always be 
associated with the consecration of the Choir, 
the Crossing, and the seven Chapels of the 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and with the open- 
ing of the Cathedral for public services associated with 
notable ecclesiastical and national events. Though 
the Cathedral project was started in the time of Bishop 
Horatio Potter, Bishop Henry Potter was always rec- 
ognized as the real founder. Dr. Greer, as rector of 
St. Bartholomew's was not interested; but when the 
care of the diocese came to him, he saw the enormous 
value of a building which would not only bind the dio- 
cese together but stand before the city as a visible 
symbol of the paramount importance of the Church of 
Christ. He nominated Dr. Grosvenor of the Church 
of the Incarnation as the first Dean of the Cathedral, 
and upon his nomination the Trustees elected him. 
When Dean Grosvenor died in 1916, the Reverend Dr. 
Howard C. Robbins, also of the Church of the Incar- 
nation, was, upon the Bishop's nomination, elected to 
succeed him. Remembering the music at St. Bartholo- 
mew's, the Bishop would gently plead with Dr. Grosve- 
nor from time to time to substitute for the boys and 
men a choir of men and women; but his pleading ceased 

233 



234 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

when Mrs. J. Jarrett Blodgett gave the dignified build- 
ing for a Choir School, and Frederick G. Bourne, Esq., 
endowed it. 

Many years before he became Bishop, Dr. Greer was 
once asked by a friend if he would ever give up St. 
Bartholomew's for a bishopric. He said, "No." 
"Then," persisted the friend, "would you give it 
up for anything?" He answered, "There is just one 
place which I covet, a place which I shall never have, 
and that is Trinity Church. If I were rector of Trinity 
Church I would bring the ablest preachers of the world 
to it and give them their freedom." Indirectly the 
Cathedral was to give him the same opportunity. With 
the sympathetic understanding of Dean Grosvenor 
and Dean Robbins, the Cathedral fulfilled this dream. 
Preachers, not only of our own Communion, but, on 
the special occasions allowed by the canon, great 
preachers of other Communions have often been heard; 
and, on national occasions particularly, laymen have 
spoken. Among these laymen were President Jacob 
G. Schurman of Cornell, Sir Johnston Forbes-Robert- 
son, Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree, Secretary Daniels, 
George Gordon Battle, Esq., George Zabriskie, Esq., 
Captain George B. Hyde (at a service of protest 
against Armenian massacres, at which members of the 
Armenian Mission, including one of their great Gen- 
erals, were present), the Honorable James W. Gerard, 
the Honorable George W. Wickersham, Judge Alton 
B. Parker, President Nicholas Murray Butler, the 




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THE BISHOPRIC 235 

Honorable Elihu Root, Thomas W. Lamont, Esq., 
and William Jay Schieffelin, Esq. Among clergymen 
not of our Communion, have been Dr. Charles E. Jef- 
ferson, Dr. Frank Mason North, Dr. William Adams 
Brown, Bishop McDowell of Washington, Dr. Cor- 
nelius Woelfkin, Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, Dr. S. 
Parkes Cadman, and Dr. William P. Merrill. Among 
the distinguished visitors from the Church of England 
who have preached in the Cathedral have been the 
Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop 
of Birmingham, the Bishop of Edinburgh, and the 
Archbishop of York. 

In March, 191 8, when gloom was over the whole 
land because of the war, an Archbishop of York for 
the first time visited America. Dr. Lang stood one 
Suriday morning in the pulpit of the Cathedral, bring- 
ing a message of courage and inspiration. Bishop Greer 
in welcoming him, said to the congregation, 

I welcome him in the confident hope that his 
coming will unite more closely the peoples of the 
old and the new countries by strengthening the 
ties of fellowship which already exist, not only as 
two great Communions but two great Nations, 
standing together hand in hand, shoulder to shoul- 
der, in the great crusade against tyranny and ag- 
gression. 

The Cathedral has become a people's church. At 
first, a good many members of neighboring parishes 



236 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

went to the services, but, missing the parochial at- 
mosphere, soon returned to their folds. The congre- 
gation is almost wholly made up of strangers and of 
people who hitherto have had no parochial connection. 
Dean Robbins, who sees the congregation Sunday by 
Sunday, thus aptly describes the people: 

The Cathedral is the home of Christian democ- 
racy. It is the House of Prayer for all people. 
It is the religious meeting place for all sorts and 
conditions of men. The first thing which always 
impresses a stranger is the size of the congrega- 
tions. Bishop Greer used to say that during the 
first months after the opening of the Crossing, he 
was almost afraid to go into the Cathedral for fear 
that he might find the congregations beginning 
to diminish, as the novelty wore off. But they 
did not diminish; instead they increased, month 
by month, and year after year. The congrega- 
tions are always differently composed. It is esti- 
mated that more than a hundred thousand people 
attend service here in the course of a single year, 
as many as all the communicants of the Diocese 
of New York put together. Only a few people, 
relatively speaking, come with regularity. Visit- 
ing clergymen often comment upon the reverence 
of the congregations, made up, as they are so 
largely, of strangers and of persons unaccustomed 
to the service. People are very sensitive to archi- 



THE BISHOPRIC 237 

tectural surroundings, and the vastness of the 
scale on which the Cathedral is built, its great 
height and open spaces, have a solemnizing influ- 
ence. Young people, who are more or less out of 
touch with conventional religion, come here when 
they would not think of going inside an ordinary 
church. As one of them said, "The Cathedral 
makes me humble." Working people, of the ar- 
tisan class, come because the Cathedral is great, 
democratic, free. 

Dr. Huntington had hoped that the seven chapels 
built about the apse would be associated with seven 
languages. Though this dream has been only partly 
fulfilled as far as the chapels are concerned (for regu- 
lar services are held only in Spanish and Chinese) the 
Choir and Crossing have been filled again and again 
on special occasions, with people of one race or an- 
other. On St. David's Day, the building has been filled 
by Welshmen, who have listened to a service and ser- 
mon in their own language. On Kossovo Day, the 
Serbian Archimandrite celebrated the Liturgy of the 
Holy Orthodox Church in ancient Slavic at the High 
Altar, and a choir composed of Russians and of Jugo- 
slavs made the responses. A feature of that service 
was the lighting of candles sent from the ancient mon- 
astery of Grachinitza, on the Kossovo battle-field, by 
a monk who had survived the Bulgarian massacre, and 
wished to show his appreciation of a former Kossovo 



238 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Day service which had been held here, news of which 
had reached him in that remote and romantic place. 

Among the many inspiring services which took place 
during Bishop Greer's administration of the diocese 
was the opening service of the General Convention, 
on October 8, 1913, when nearly all the Bishops of the 
Church were in the Sanctuary, and Bishop Lawrence 
preached the sermon. 

When the Metropolitan of Athens (Meletios Me- 
taxakis) was in America, he preached in Greek. After 
the sermon, Bishop Greer met the Metropolitan at the 
choir steps to conduct him to the Sanctuary. The 
Greek kissed Bishop Greer rapturously on both cheeks. 
The choristers had difficulty in keeping their com- 
posure, but the Bishop helped them by taking the 
kisses as a matter of course, and, passing his arm 
through that of the Metropolitan, walking with him to 
the Sanctuary for the closing prayers. 

After the signing of the Armistice, the diocese held 
its corporate Thanksgiving in the Cathedral, the Hon- 
orable Elihu Root making the address. Within a 
week, representatives of the twelve liberated peoples 
comprised in the mid-European Democratic Alliance, 
met in the Cathedral. They brought with them the 
constitution to which they had just subscribed in In- 
dependence Hall, Philadelphia. They brought their 
flags and banners, some of them quite new, never be- 
fore carried into any church. Albanians, Armenians, 
Czecho-Slovaks, Jugo-Slavs, Lithuanians, Poles, 



THE BISHOPRIC 239 

Ukrainians, Zionists, flowed together, witnessing to 
the birth of their nations as they entered the Cathedral. 
Many stood outside weeping as they saw the flags of 
their new-won liberty. A few days later, there was a 
Thanksgiving service in the Cathedral for the victory. 
Every one of the nations which had borne arms in the 
struggle for liberty, or had declared its sympathy by 
severing diplomatic relations with the Central Powers, 
was officially represented. The flags of twenty-seven 
nations were carried into the chancel and massed there 
for the singing of the Te Deum. 

In the spring of 191 8, when Mr. Balfour visited 
America to represent the British Government, the 
Cathedral was open for a service of Dedication, by 
which the friendship of the two nations was emphasized 
for the cause of liberty. The sermon was preached by 
Bishop Brent. Mr. Balfour made a short address to 
the clergy and choristers after the service. 

In addition to the growth of the Cathedral itself, 
and in addition to the building of the choristers' school, 
other important buildings have risen upon the Cathe- 
dral Close during Bishop Greer's time. As soon as 
the General Convention of 1910 accepted the invitation 
of New York for the Convention of 1 913, Bishop Greer 
was eager to have a suitable hall for the meeting of 
the House of Deputies. After he had begun the col- 
lection of funds for Synod House, Mr. J. Pierpont 
Morgan and Mr. W. Bayard Cutting, who, with 
others, had for many years represented the Diocese of 



240 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

New York in the General Convention, asked the privi- 
lege of erecting the building. Their offer was accepted. 
The gifts already made were, by consent, applied 
towards the building of the Bishop's House. Both the 
givers however died before the Convention met. The 
building therefore, when completed, seemed a memorial 
to these generous and loyal laymen. It is always used 
for the Diocesan Convention. In it were the offices 
of Bishop Greer, Bishop Burch, and Archdeacon Pott. 
Many meetings of a diocesan and public character 
have been held in it. The Deanery was given in 191 3, 
by Mrs. Ogilvie, in memory of her husband, Clinton 
Ogilvie. The Bishop's House was built with the 
money received from the sale of the house in Gramercy 
Park, with additional sums given by many of the 
Bishop's personal friends. The Bishop moved into this 
House in April 19 14. Having always lived in the 
heart of the city, he valued the peace of the Cathedral 
Close. Mrs. Greer would say, after explaining how 
quiet the house was at night, "He deserves it." 



VIII 

BISHOP GREER'S Episcopate will not, how- 
ever, be associated with the magnificent build- 
ings which arose during his term of office, 
but rather with the men in whose selection he was 
closely concerned. Sometimes vestries are exceedingly 
shy of the advice of Bishops when a rectorship is va- 
cant. Perhaps because Bishop Greer did not obtrude 
his advice, and fully recognized the right of a vestry 
to make their own choice, his counsel was the more 
often sought. In the case of one important parish, 
the vestry, having chosen a rector whom he himself 
approved, asked him to present the call. As he sat 
down with the rector-elect he spoke of the opportunity. 
"Such a call," he said, "comes only once in a lifetime; 
you must not let it pass." Then he went on to speak 
of New York: to him there was no other place in the 
world so strategic. "If you want to serve your gen- 
eration to the utmost," he said, "this is the place to 
do it." A letter will show the reality of his interest, as 
the new rector began his work. The parish need not 
be named, for this interest is typical of his solicitude 
for all other parishes: 

Welcome to New York! I had cancelled an 
appointment for this morning in order to be with 

241 



242 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

you, and to welcome you by my presence ; but un- 
fortunately I am confined to my bed and am 
imder strict orders by my physician to stay there. 
I am better, however, and expect to be out and 
about in a few days, as well as ever, and am look- 
ing forward with great pleasure, to having you at 
dinner to meet some of our clergy, on May i6, 
at eight o'clock. 

Perhaps it is just as well that I could not be 
with you this morning, so that you could begin in 
your own way and make your own impression 
without any little seeming endorsement of influ- 
ence which the presence of the Bishop of the 
diocese might give. And so you did begin in your 
own way, and gave your own message, which, by 
your kindness, I have just been permitted to read. 
Will you let me tell you, my dear brother, that it 
is just the message that New York needs. It is 
a busy, restless city, and is sometimes thought to 
be wicked and worldly; but I know that at its 
heart it is hungry for Christ, and I believe that the 
old Parish, with you at its head, will minister to 
that hunger and human need. 

Praying God's richest blessing upon you, believe 
me, not only your bishop, but always sincerely 
and affectionately your friend, 

David H. Greer 



THE BISHOPRIC 243 

Because he knew the difficulties besetting parishes 
in certain parts of the city, he was lenient with the 
clergy when they tried various methods to interest the 
people who lived in their neighborhoods. His own 
preference was for the simple rubrical service to which 
he had always been accustomed, but he was patient 
when men tried experiments. One bleak November 
afternoon, when a bust of Peter Stuyvesant was being 
unveiled at St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie, the procession 
from the rectory to the church was halted in the 
churchyard. The rector suddenly turned to the 
Bishop, and said, "Bishop, the patriotic societies have 
got hold of this service; I am not responsible for it: 
really, it is the queerest service I ever got into." The 
Bishop blinked and smiled, "Well, Guthrie," he said, 
"it must be mighty queer then." 

When Dr. Guthrie and his Vestry disagreed about 
the proper methods of conducting St. Mark's, the rector 
went to the Bishop to seek his "godly judgment." The 
Bishop said, "Don't say a word to me. The Vestry 
have told me their side of the case. I didn't want you 
to be called to St. Mark's, but you were called. I have 
watched your work, and I have some knowledge of 
its results. You are not so much building up St. 
Mark's, as through St. Mark's you are building up the 
other churches in the city. I am not concerned in this 
particular case whether you are technically right or 
the Vestry is technically right. What I must do is 
to help the men who are building up the Kingdom of 



244 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

God in New York. You get hold of men who have 
lost their grip on religion, on God. You start them 
in the right direction. They begin to believe again. 
Then their wives find out that they are willing to go to 
Church; and, to please their wives, they go to church 
which satisfies their wives, — but you are responsible 
for their renewed allegiance to Christ. I haven't told 
you before that I know all this. I think I know more 
than you know about the people you have helped. 
Your ways are not customary; perhaps not canonical. 
But you are saving souls. And I want you to know 
that I am behind you." 

When Dr. Sedgwick came to Calvary Church, the 
Bishop was living only a few steps away, at 7, Gram- 
ercy Park. One of the children was ill in Calvary 
Rectory, and each morning the Bishop came in to in- 
quire, and if possible to see the little boy. At a 
friendly dinner, he would say, "My neighbor Sedgwick 
is doing very interesting things: last night he marched 
his choir over to Madison Square; the boys and men 
sang hymns, and then they all marched back to the 
church with troops of people behind them." 

When the Reverend Percy Silver came to the Church 
of the Incarnation, the Bishop appeared unexpectedly 
in the vestr3rroom one Sunday morning, saying that he 
would like to go into the chancel with the rector and 
say a few words to the people. Twice within a few 
years the parish had given its rector to be Dean of 
the Cathedral; the rectorship had been now vacant for 



THE BISHOPRIC 245 

a year, with the consequent disorganizing processes 
setting in. When the Bishop spoke to the congrega- 
tion, he said, "I went up to West Point to try to per- 
suade Mr. Silver to be your rector. He didn't want 
to leave West Point: they loved him there and he was 
doing a great work. But I told him that New York 
needed him. And he came. I told him that you would 
all stand behind him. And I know that you will keep 
that pledge for me." The last time the Bishop visited 
the Church of the Incarnation, the rector presented 
for Confirmation the Bishop's grandson. The boy 
shyly sought the end of the rail, so that he was the 
last candidate on whom the Bishop laid his hands. It 
was providential for the Bishop; because he was so 
overcome with emotion that it would have been diffi- 
cult for him to say the prayer again. Perhaps he sus- 
pected that the asking of the solemn spiritual gift for 
his grandson would be his last association with a parish 
for which he felt deep responsibility. 

The Reverend William H. Owen, Jr., recalls the 
Bishop upon a visitation: 

Bishop Greer was to visit Trinity Church, 
Mount Vernon, for a confirmation, Sunday morn- 
ing. Though I had written him about the matter, 
I could get no details of his coming. Accordingly, 
I telephoned him on Saturday night. He said 
that he could not, even then, tell me just how he 
would come, but that he would get there somehow. 



246 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Next morning, I was in the church welcoming 
the people. About seven minutes before the hour, 
my assistant told me that the Bishop had arrived 
and was in the vestry room. I found the Bishop 
sitting there, looking somewhat fatigued. I wel- 
comed him, and then said, "How did you get 
here?" He replied, "That is none of your affair!" 
To this day I do not know. 

The Bishop lunched with me, and after 
luncheon I took him to the railway station. While 
we were waiting for the train, his face suddenly 
assumed a solemn expression, and he said, "I have 
only forty cents in my pocket. That will be 
enough, however, to take me to New York, where I 
shall meet my chauffeur." I protested, asking him 
what he would do in the case of emergency, or if 
he did not meet his chauffeur. He said he didn't 
know. I urged him to accept two dollars from me, 
which he returned the next morning. 

In reading this story, one should remember that 
Bishop Greer was the chief Pastor of what is in 
all likelihood the richest diocese the world has 
ever known. 

Bishop Greer never attempted Episcopal airs with 
the clergy — or with anyone else. He always made 
the clergy feel that he was a brother rather than a 
ruler. "Can I speak frankly to you?" asked a rector. 
"Yes," said the Bishop quizzically, "I suppose so." 



THE BISHOPRIC 247 

"Then," said the venturer, "why don't you stop doing 
all these little things, being bothered by all the little 
people with their little troubles, and their little letters, 
and their little parishes, and lead us to some great 
thing. Do you know," said the man, getting bolder, 
"that whether we clergy are high or low or broad, 
whether we think you are exactly made to be a bishop 
or not, we all love you. I never saw a bishop who had 
so much real love from the clergy in a diocese." The 
Bishop passed his hand tremblingly over his forehead. 
It was his own criticism of the Episcopate. There were 
routine duties which, as a faithful bishop, he must do. 
He saved them from being petty by doing them 
in simplicity, dignity, and lovingkindness. But he 
chafed under them. As he sat in his large office in 
Synod Hall, he would sometimes telephone to Bishop 
Burch who was in the office over him: "Bishop, are 
you free? . . . Then, won't you come down and 
talk with me." Bishop Burch would expect talk about 
the business of the diocese. But at least twenty times. 
Bishop Burch says, he would speak only of this very 
matter of the deadening weight of the routine. "The 
thing," Bishop Greer would say, "which presses on 
me is that we are set to be leaders over the people 
spiritually. We ought to be thinking of this more than 
of money, and the mere formality of making visita- 
tions, and answering the innumerable letters of busi- 
ness." Then at the end of the conversation, which 
made the office seem like a church, he would add, 



248 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

"Let us think about it, and pray about it. Greater 
spiritual leadership, — that is what we must win." 

A great many Roman Catholic priests appealed to 
him. He rarely encouraged them to enter our Min- 
istry, but he gave them such counsel as he could. One 
such priest has told the story of his telephoning to the 
Bishop, and receiving the invitation to come to see 
him. The conversation was cordial. All was assumed 
to be right, and the man received both understanding 
and sympathy. The Bishop read the letters presented, 
commending his visitor's moral character. But before 
reading the letters he had made up his mind that the 
priest would work happily in the Episcopal Church. 
When at length all was arranged, and a place was 
found for him, the Bishop said, "Of course you will 
never speak a word against the Roman Church. Get 
the fellow who doesn't go to any Church." 

A chaplain in the Army, returning to America, came 
to the Bishop's office with a note of introduction from 
his own bishop. The Bishop had never seen him be- 
fore; but he thought instantly that he knew a place 
in the diocese where he would fit. "Do you think you 
could preach without a rest for ten minutes?" the 
Bishop asked. The man laughed, and said he thought 
he could. "Dr. Parks," the Bishop continued, "needs 
a special preacher; I think I shall tell him about you." 
He did so. The next Sunday afternoon the chaplain 
was preaching at St. Bartholomew's, secured his dis- 
charge from the army, and became a permanent mem- 



THE BISHOPRIC 249 

ber of the parochial staff. "Do you think," the man 
added, "that I can ever forget a man who believed in 
people like that?" 

Another clergyman tells his experience: "In the early 
part of 1908, I was serving as a curate in the Church 
of the Transfiguration. Dr. Houghton said one day, 
*I want you to go to Bishop Greer and get advice on 
an application for marriage.' The lady had been 
married before. However, she was not divorced; she 
was married under age; and the Court had pronounced 
the marriage null and void. I shall never forget my 
interview with the Bishop on the subject. He came 
out into the anteroom, where a number of persons were 
waiting to see him, and when he found out what my 
errand was he manifested the greatest interest. "Come 
into my office," he said: "I want to talk to you about 
the matter. I want you to know that I take a very 
high view on this subject of marriage." I shall never 
forget his words on that occasion. They are as fresh 
in my memory as though they had been spoken only 
yesterday. 'Marriage,' said the Bishop, 'is an institu- 
tion of God and not of the State.' I gave him the de- 
tails in regard to the proposed marriage, and he said, 
'Tell your rector to pay no attention to the decree of 
the Court; her marriage, though under age, should 
stand; for it is valid in the sight of God.' " 

When he was marching into church at a Confirma- 
tion, with one of the older rectors of the diocese, he would 
sometimes insist that the rector walk beside him. This 



2 50 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

was symbolical of his attitude. He would not mount 
a pedestal. When he was receiving visitors, if one of 
the clergy of the diocese happened to be among them 
and the Bishop knew that he was there, he always gave 
directions that he should be admitted immediately. If 
when he was uncommonly weary, someone protected 
him and begged that the visit be postponed, it was 
without his knowledge. Occasionally the younger 
clergy would feel that they were forgotten, because, 
owing to the Bishop's defective sight, he could not al- 
ways recognize them. When a visitor once entered 
his room the Bishop had no device by which he could 
suggest that he had other work to do or someone else 
might be waiting to see him. He gave himself fully 
to the conversation; that, for the time being, was his 
whole work. Towards the end, he would sometimes 
show the strain of the interview, and men would feel 
that he was not interested in their work. This was 
not true; the spirit was always willing, and probably 
nothing refreshed him more than the personal talk with 
a man for whom and for whose work he felt a joint 
responsibility. He wished to be a father to the clergy 
of the diocese. If he could be that, the leadership was 
to him indifferent. He liked to think of the phrase 
in the service of consecration of a bishop, "Be to the 
flock of Christ a shepherd." To this description he 
tried to conform his life. Sometimes he borrowed the 
common phrase from papal bulls and called himself 
"the servant of servants." As he was a servant to the 



THE BISHOPRIC 251 

clergy he liked to believe that they were gladly serv- 
ants to all whom they could reach. 

Sometimes people who stood at a distance wondered 
if the Diocese of New York might not be in need of 
more active guidance, which should feel no restrictions 
of age or infirmity. We who stood closer knew that 
what was missing in bristling activity was more than 
made up by the calm judgment, the long experience, 
the loving care of one who tried to know us all, and 
who, as he examined our work, thought more of the 
souls we were helping in hidden places than of the ac- 
counts we might make for our year books. We went 
to him for advice and for deeper help, with a convic- 
tion that his age was an asset, not a liability. He had 
not only succeeded, he had suffered. He knew how 
to make light of our failures if we had really tried; and 
he was not dazed by any passing good fortune which 
fell across our path. We some way knew that he was 
watching us, and that he cared beyond the words he 
chanced to speak. 

At first the Bishop held office hours every weekday 
afternoon except Saturday. In 191 1, four afternoons 
were kept as episcopal office hours, two of them being 
taken by the Bishop and two by the Suffragan. The 
people began to come as early as half-past one, and 
often by two o'clock the waiting room was crowded. 
The callers represented all phases of life. Someone 
would ask him to serve on a committee for prison re- 
form; another to speak at the Lighthouse for the 



252 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Blind; another would plead for an address on an an- 
niversary; another for the sermon at the consecration 
of a bishop; still another would try to secure his en- 
dorsement of a new organization for civic good; and 
among all these, the most important of all would be 
the clergy and the laity who came specifically for 
counsel in connection with their parishes. 

One example will suffice. The Rev. W. Bertrand 
Stevens, rector of St. Ann's in the Bronx, had been 
called to Holy Trinity, Middletown, Connecticut, and 
went to talk the call over with the Bishop. Mr. 
Stevens was not at all sure of his own mind or of his 
duty. The Bishop quickly gave his advice: "Never 
accept a call if you feel any doubt about it in your 
mind and heart." He then went on to say that this 
had been the principle which had guided every move- 
ment in his life; that he had never made a change 
if he was at all doubtful about the advisability 
of it. 

Nearly all the mornings would be given to office 
work. The letters were unending. He was scrupulous 
in answering them. The telephone was diabolically 
busy. In the midst of the office work not infrequently 
he would be called to administer confirmation to some- 
one who was ill, or to call upon a clergyman, who, ill 
or in sorrow, had expressed a wish to see him. 

Two letters selected almost at random will suggest 
the kind of advice he gave. This letter was written to 
a Sunday-school teacher: 





THE SYNOD IIOLSL 



THE BISHOPRIC 253 

The questions which you ask are pretty hard 
to answer, at least the second one is. 

As far as the first one is concerned, I would say 
that while scientific materialism has perhaps 
been hitherto a dominant tendency in many of our 
universities, yet of late a reaction seems to be 
setting in, and college groups, like other groups, 
are beginning today to feel that scientific materi- 
alism is a spent force both in philosophy and life; 
and if it still lingers for a little while in our col- 
leges and elsewhere, it is a receding wave. As a 
matter of fact, as far as my observation goes, 
there is more real religious interest in colleges 
today than at any other time during this genera- 
tion. 

The second question as I have said is a harder 
one to answer. It is difficult for a young man 
just starting upon a business career to hold fast 
to the fundamental principles of religion or to 
what he believes is essentially right and true; and 
if he continues to do so he may sometimes suffer 
loss, though not always, nor usually. And if he 
cannot conscientiously do some of the things which 
his business situation requires of him I believe 
that in the end he will be honored and respected 
for standing by his convictions, and that he will 
ultimately win out. What the world needs today 
is not the man of loose and flabby or compromis- 
ing character, but the man whose character is 



254 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

rooted in principles and who remains true to those 
principles. That is the type of man whom the 
business world cannot afford to neglect or over- 
look, and who as I have said will ultimately win 
his way to positions of large trust and responsi- 
bility. 

The following letter was written to a man many 
miles away: 

This is the first opportunity I have had to reply 
to your letter of the 2 7th ult. 

If I catch your point, it is this, — What reason- 
able hypothesis has one to go on in a tentative ac- 
ceptance of the Christian religion? In answer to 
this, let me say that the Christian religion was not 
founded primarily on a book, nor upon any defi- 
nite teaching, but upon an alleged fact, namely, 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is generally 
admitted by all critics, whether friendly or un- 
friendly to the Christian religion as a body of 
doctrine, that it was established in the world by 
a belief in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That 
is the great fact which St. Paul preached, — not 
the moral character of Jesus, or the teaching of 
Jesus, or the sa3dngs of Jesus (only one such say- 
ing does he quote, and that one not in the Four 
Gospels). It was belief in that fact which created 
Christendom, and not only so, but which has since 



THE BISHOPRIC 255 

sustained it and kept it alive. That it seems to 
me creates a reasonable conjecture, as reasonable 
as that of Newton about Gravitation, when he saw 
the apple fall. I think therefore that an honest 
inquirer after the truth is warranted in starting 
with such a reasonable hypothesis, and then he 
can proceed to verify it in his own case and also 
to make practical application of it to society at 
large, with a view to ascertaining not only its 
practical value but its truth. If it works well, he 
is justified in accepting it, for a reason precisely 
similar to his aceptance of the h5TD0thesis or 
theory of the law of Gravitation. 

I do not know whether I have met your diffi- 
culty, but I have tried to do so as I imderstand it. 

As Bishop of New York, Dr. Greer was president or 
chairman ex-officio of all kinds of committees and 
boards. The routine of stimulating the loyalty of other 
members of a board by his own presence, of listening 
to long and prolix discussions, of shaping and guiding 
opinion, all required not only time but patience. Dr. 
Mansfield often tells how he changed the tone of a 
meeting of the Board of Managers of the Seamen's 
Church Institute. Retrenchment was being discussed. 
Member after member spoke with discouragement of 
the financial conditions. The Bishop, who had been 
apparently sleeping, deliberately rose, and said, "Gen- 
tlemen, you cannot go forward by going backward." 



256 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Then he made suggestions which were adopted. He 
himself became a member of the new Ways and Means 
Committee, and he lived to see the great New Institute, 
built under the leadership of Edmund L. Baylies. Esq., 
at 25, South Street. 

When the day had been thus spent, ordinarily he 
would have a confirmation in the evening, and on Sun- 
days he would visit two or three parishes for confirma- 
tion. Not counting the persons confirmed by other 
bishops, he himself would confirm in a single year 
about three thousand persons. He would preach 
about two hundred sermons at his visitations, and in 
addition he would go to about one hundred and sixty 
meetings, at more than thirty of which he would make 
addresses; and besides all this, he would be apt to 
preach, on special occasions, fifteen or twenty times a 
year. Among the addresses which he felt to be most 
important were his counsels to men about to be or- 
dained. He emphasized loyalty to Christ first of all, 
but he did not forget humdrum details. Chaplain 
Ejiox of Columbia writes: 

I well remember an evening of informal discus- 
sion with a group of candidates for the ministry. 
The conversation led to theological studies, and 
the Bishop remarked that every minister should 
know the rudiments of accounting, saying, "If any 
man entrusts you with twenty-five cents, be able 
to tell him at any moment what you have done 
with it." 



THE BISHOPRIC 257 

The meeting and services on weekdays would some- 
times come so closely together that no schedule could 
be arranged which would allow him time or place for 
dinner. To his great regret, as well as the regret of 
the hospitable rectories, he would often be obliged to 
decline invitations to dinner upon visitations. What 
took the place of dinner was eaten alone in his motor 
as he went to and fro. Though, as has already been 
said, the clergy begged him to relieve himself of the 
wearisome details and give himself wholly to the con- 
spicuous acts of leadership in the community and the 
Church at large, yet, when they wished to consult him, 
by letter or in person, it was comforting to find that 
they had a bishop whose primary care was for their 
interests, of which the world knew and cared nothing 
at all. And though they thought he might delegate 
visitations to visiting bishops, they wanted him when 
their own classes were to be presented. Here Bishop 
Burch helped him wonderfully, for he came not as a 
stranger but as a known and trusted friend. Arch- 
deacon Pott also, now well known throughout the dio- 
cese, was everywhere lightening the burden of admin- 
istration by his unselfish and judicious service. 

He was as quick with his sympathy as the pastor 
of pastors as he had been when he was the pastor of 
a single fiock. If he was far away, his letter was the 
most eagerly awaited, when darkness came over the 
rectory. The youngest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. 
Chorley died at Garrison. 



2S8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

North East Harbor 
Maine 

August 28, 1912 
My dear Mr. Chorley: 

My attention has just been called to a notice in 
the paper announcing the death of your daughter, 
and I am moved to write you at once and tell you 
of my deepest and tenderest sympathy with you 
in your sorrow. It is one of the great mysteries of 
our existence here that a young and beautiful life, 
full of hope and promise, should be cut off in this 
apparently unnatural way. It tears the heart and 
tries the faith, and yet we cannot but trust in the 
eternal goodness of our Father, God. May He 
comfort you and your good wife with a lively sense 
of His presence in this your time of grief. 

Again assuring you of my deepest S3mipathy 
with you, believe me always, Sincerely and affec- 
tionately your friend and Bishop, 

David H. Greer 

When he possibly could come he comforted by his 
presence the desolate rectories. In 191 8 the eldest 
daughter in the Garrison rectory was taken from 
earth. The Bishop had always greeted her with a kiss 
from her childhood, and she was devoted to him. He 
left his sick bed on a cold November day and went to 
Garrison that he might officiate at the funeral. And 
he took the whole service himself. 



THE BISHOPRIC iS^ 

At a Diocesan Convention, while the ballots were 
being cast, a line of clergy was filing by the Bishop. 
A clergyman looked up and said to the Bishop, "The 
convention is going well." "Yes, yes," was the answer; 
"just tell me, how is that little angel Miriam? Tell 
her that when she sat on my lap and threw her arms 
around my neck, she entwined herself in my heart." 
To his next neighbor in the line, who was surprised by 
this speech in the midst of diocesan business, the father 
of the little girl explained that Bishop Greer had re- 
cently come to his parish to dedicate a memorial win- 
dow, and the youngest of his six children, a child of 
two years, had appropriated the Bishop, — and he had 
not forgotten. 

The clergy remembered him on his birthdays and 

anniversaries. One letter will show how much he 

cared 

March 28, 1919 

My dear Mr. Floyd-Jones: 

This is a tardy acknowledgment of your kind 
letter to me on my recent birthday; but none the 
less I want you to know how much I appreciate 
your thought of me. I have been humbled by the 
numerous tokens of love and affection which I 
have received from friends, both clerical and lay, 
and among them all there is none I appreciate 
more than yours. 

With best wishes for yourself, believe me al- 

^ Sincerely your friend and Bishop, 

David H. Greer 



260 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

On his tenth aniversary as Bishop, the diocese asked 
him to administer to the clergy and laity the Holy 
Communion in St. Bartholomew's Church where he 
had been consecrated. His friends gathered about him. 
and he was very happy. As the procession moved 
down the church after the service, he caught the hand 
of his small grandson as he passed the pew where he 
was sitting by Mrs. Greer, and drew him to him, and 
the old Bishop and the little boy marched hand in 
hand through the congregation. He liked to think that 
the boy would sometime be his brother in the Christian 
ministry. 

In the Biltmore Hotel to which the congregation 
afterwards went with him to luncheon, a tall clock was 
given him. As he made his speech of gratitude, he 
turned suddenly to Mrs. Greer who had been sitting 
beside him, and taking her hand, he said as she rose, 
"We both thank you, for she is so much to me, and 
so much to you through me, that I know you must 
have given it to her. I know that Bishop Burch won't 
mind if I say that she is my Bishop Coadjutor." 

As he had promised at the beginning of his bishopric, 
Dr. Greer never allowed himself to be the bishop of 
any party or school in the Church. When Dr. Chris- 
tian went away from the Church of St. Mary the 
Virgin, the Bishop expressed the hope that the services 
would remain unchanged; and after Dr. Barry, the 
new rector, had made his first call upon the Bishop he 
was heard to say, "That Bishop has real religion be- 



THE BISHOPRIC 261 

hind him." Nothing would have gratified the Bishop 
more than such an estimate; for he once said to one 
of his friends, "You know I don't care anything about 
what they call churchmanship: all I want to know 
about a clergyman who comes to one of the parishes 
in New York, is this: 'Is he a religious man.' " One 
day Dr. Darlington met the Bishop at Whittaker's, and 
asked him concerning a young clergyman whom he 
was thinking of recommending for a vacant parish: 
"Don't do it," said Bishop Greer; "he is clever, even 
brilliant; but he does not know the Gospel, — there- 
fore he can't preach it." 

In economics the Bishop was conservative, but he 
did not cast out the man who pleaded for a radical so- 
lution. One clergyman, who is a pronounced socialist, 
thus records his experience: 

I had come to know the Bishop fairly inti- 
mately, by reason of my having worked two or 
three years in New York, as chaplain on Black- 
wells Island, and as assistant at the Church of the 
Holy Trinity, Rev. J. V. Chalmers, vicar. We 
had had some pleasant conversation concerning 
the bishop who ordained me, and for whom I have 
lasting respect, Frederick Dan Huntington. I 
had mentioned Bishop Huntington's defense of me 
in 1902, when some complications had arisen in 
Central New York over my socialist activity. 
Bishop Greer impressed me as having thorough 



262 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

respect for me, in being a socialist. He did not 
resent it, or take issue with me, or be annoyed 
by it, as so many of my brethren appear to be. 

Bishop Greer most enjoyed talking with his friends 
about the books they had been reading. At the dinner 
table of the Tuckahoe rectory, the rector, Mr. Wright, 
chanced to say that the preacher whom he thought to 
be the greatest of all preachers was a man who was 
supposed to be a Unitarian, James Martineau. The 
Bishop was delighted: "At last," he exclaimed, "I have 
found someone who agrees with my opinion of Mar- 
tineau!" The rector than told the Bishop that he re- 
membered accurately the sermon the Bishop had 
preached twenty-five years before at Columbia when 
he, Mr. Wright, was an undergraduate. "What was 
the sermon about?" Mr. Wright told him that it was 
about the difference between believing a thing and be- 
lieving in it. "You said. Bishop, 'I believe that Na- 
poleon lived, but I do not believe in Napoleon. You 
must not only believe that God lives, you must believe 
in God, the Father Almighty.' " The Bishop said, "I 
don't remember that sermon. But it's a good point, 
isn't it? I think I shall preach it again." Of an even- 
ing the deanery telephone was apt to ring, and Dr. 
Robbins would be summoned to come to the Bishop's 
House if he was free: 

We would talk shop for a while, but before long 
the talk would always drift to the books he had 




O 
X 



Cm 

o 

X 

u 

X 
H 



THE BISHOPRIC 263 

just been reading, Charnwood's Lincoln, a new 
life of Hamilton, Viscount Morley's Recollections, 
or whatever else deserved attention. He was not 
satisfied, like other busy men, with keeping in- 
formed by reading book reviews; he got the book 
itself, read it, assimilated it, illuminated it by his 
comments, — how he found time to do it was a 
question which I often asked, but which he never 
satisfactorily answered, for I do not think he knew 
himself. He made time. 

Nor was he thinking only of those for whom he was 
directly responsible. He was in a genuine sense Bishop 
of New York. He ministered not only to the sheep 
gathered in the fold, but also so far as he could, to the 
whole flock. A reporter on one of the New York 
papers writes of her experience: 

I used often to wonder why the clergymen of all 
the different "varieties" I interviewed never asked 
me if I was a Christian. (I was, but it seemed 
to me when I came to New York twelve years ago 
that some one should care for my soul. It seemed 
that no one did.) 

One afternoon I was at St. Bartholomew's 
Church. I went there of my own accord, knowing 
that Bishop Greer was going to confirm a class. 
I wanted to get what we call "a human interest 
story." 



264 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Bishop Greer confirmed a large class. There 
were the sons and daughters of the Parish Church, 
and there were also foreigners of numerous races 
from the Chapel and Parish House. After the 
service I waited in the hope I could see him. I 
was in one end of the room back of the church. 

Suddenly I heard a voice: "Miss M , I 

want to speak to you." It was Bishop Greer. I 
rushed the length of the room, almost trembling. 
I feared he was going to scold me for something I 
had written. I said, "Bishop, have I done wrong?" 
He said, "My child, have you ever been con- 
firmed?" My first thought was, "Is he going to 
try and make an Episcopalian of me?" I an- 
swered, "Why, Bishop, I thought you knew I was 
a Presbyterian." He said, "That is not what I 
mean. Have you given your life to God? This 
service today has touched me deeply. When I was 
up in the chancel after having put my hands on 
all these children, it came to me suddenly that I 
saw you often and I had never asked you the ques- 
tion I asked them. I told him that I was a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church and that I tried 
day by day to live a Christian life. 

He gave me some beautiful advice about being 
a frequent communicant. After that he always 
asked me if I had been to the Holy Communion 
recently. Sometimes I would waive the question. 
But he would not have this. He insisted on know- 



THE BISHOPRIC 265 

ing. Then I said, "Bishop, I am not always in 
the mood, I rush into a service to make a report 
of it. Sometimes my heart is not right and things 
go wrong and I lose my temper, and don't feel 
fit to partake of Holy Communion." Then he 
answered, "That is the very time you should go 
the most. Get down on your knees and ask the 
Lord to forgive you and then come to His Table." 
I told the Bishop that, being a Presbyterian, I 
knew I would not always be welcome in some 
Episcopal churches. Then he said, "I want you, 
whenever you are where I am administering the 
Holy Communion, to come forward. You will 
always be welcome then." 

One morning Bishop Greer was officiating and 
preaching at the regular service in Sing Sing Prison. 
After the service the Chaplain took the Bishop to visit 
four so-called "gunmen," who for murder were await- 
ing death. They had plotted the death of a notorious 
gambler in New York, and the underworld had been 
hideously revealed. They were of no creed and of 
various nationalities. They were told that their visitor 
was a bishop. He talked with them for a few minutes, 
and then asked if they would object to saying a prayer 
with him. Giving a sullen consent, they knelt down 
on the floor with him and, led by him, asked God's 
mercy upon them both for the present and for the 
future. Then as they stood up, he asked them if he 



266 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

couldn't get something for them when he returned to 
town. And of course he did their bidding. He was 
almost ill afterwards with the remembrance of the 
death chambers, their cold dreariness, their lack of 
sunlight, the hoplessness of the men. With a deeper 
earnestness than ever he did what he could to make 
prisons places of penitence and reform instead of grim 
places of mere punishment. And he thought of the 
prisoners one by one. He was their Bishop too. 



IX 

WHEN THE European war broke out 
Bishop Greer at once felt the depth of the 
tragedy. He was overwhelmed by the 
suffering Belgians and the sorrowing families of the 
soldiers of all countries; but he was more deeply ago- 
nized by the failure of so-called Christian nations to 
abide in peace. He had hoped that at this stage of 
the world's history statesmen who called themselves 
Christians might be able to settle their disputes in 
some other way than by war. While the tide of indig- 
nation was rapidly rising against German barbarism, 
he refused to be carried away by it. When the de- 
mand that our Country enter the strife became more 
insistent he still withstood it. He felt that Christianity 
had not yet been tried. If a foreign foe entered our 
harbor, he believed that non-resistence would so awake 
the conscience, even of Germany, that the victory 
would be on the side of the nation which dared to 
stand unarmed with Christ. 

When at length the United States had made its de- 
cision, he was loyal, and did everything in his power 
to make effective the end of the conflict. He fre- 
quently spoke at Liberty Loan meetings, and turned 
over every available building for the soldiers and those 

367 



268 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

who toiled in their behalf. He probably stood, among 
the clergy of the diocese, quite alone as a man of peace 
before our nation entered the war; and after America 
was identified with it he was made to feel quite alone 
in many a company where bitter words which seemed 
to him words of hate were flung against the Germans. 
He was horrified at what Germany had done. He did 
not for one moment minimize the atrocious deeds which 
had ample evidence; but he believed that Christ's com- 
mand to forgive enemies was without exception and 
literal. He feared the consequences of a bitter and 
unforgiving spirit more than he feared the sorrow and 
the penury which come to those afflicted by war. He 
could not share the rosy dreams of men who prophesied 
that a hideous war would create a new world. Love, 
especially that love which is reflected from the perfect 
love of Christ, was the only constructive force in which 
he had faith. 

It is too soon by many years to tell how far he was 
right in his judgment. We, his brethren of the clergy, 
did not agree with him. We felt that the war had to 
be fought, and we were convinced that America must 
take its righteous share not only so far as possible in 
the sacrifice of men and substance, but also in that 
more deadly risk, the loss of our own loving souls. All 
this time we never doubted the Bishop. We recog- 
nized the splendor of his isolation. He was not afraid 
to stand for an ideal which was not only unpopular 
but which in some cases led to flagrant abuse. The 



THE BISHOPRIC 269 

suspicion came to us time and again, especially when 
we heard the cheap and easy speeches which kindled 
applause, that he was seeing more deeply than the rest 
of us; that he cared nothing for the approval of men if 
he might scrupulously obey the still small Voice. Be- 
cause of repeated breakdowns and constant weariness 
of body, he must have known that his course on earth 
was nearly run; therefore we imagined that he might 
be seeing the events of earth in a light which was al- 
together of another world. Though we cannot see how, 
after certain events had taken place, any other course 
was open to the Allied Nations than that course which 
they took, we cannot be so cheered by the aftermath 
of war as to believe that war is anything else than the 
most apt picture of hell which humanity thus far has 
been able to imagine. 

When, during the war, one of the clergy of the dio- 
cese compiled certain prayers and sought the Bishop's 
approval for their parochial use, the Bishop told what 
his attitude was: 

North East Harbor 
Maine 

August 17, 1917 
My dear Doctor: 

I am always glad for any occasion which will 
bring a line from you. As to the prayers which 
you send me and which you wish to use, let me say 
that you have my official approval for doing so. 



270 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

Possibly I might word some of them a little dif- 
ferently from you, but with their substance I am 
in hearty accord. 

As long as this country had not entered into the 
conflict, I felt it my duty as a Christian man and 
minister to seek peace and ensue it, with the hope 
that some arrangement might be made for secur- 
ing and establishing such a peace. When it did 
however actually and officially enter into the con- 
flict and declared war against Germany, I then 
perceived and decided that it was my duty as an 
American citizen to obey the law and to give to 
the American Government a staunch and loyal 
support. That is my present attitude. 

I must confess, however, that I do not share the 
hopes of those who think that the suppression or 
destruction of Prussian militarism will put an end 
to war. That will not be done until human nature 
here and everywhere shall have been born again, 
and that as I understand it is the aim and purpose 
of Jesus Christ and should be also of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

With kindest regards and best wishes, believe 
me always. 

Very sincerely yours, 
David H. Greer 

When six of the parishes of lower Manhattan were 
having a joint thanksgiving service in the armory of the 



THE BISHOPRIC 271 

Sixty-ninth Infantry one Sunday afternoon just after 
the armistice was signed, Colonel Whittlesey, who 
spoke modestly of the heroic deeds of his Battalion in 
the Argonne Forest, told the congregation that his 
men felt no bitterness against the foe. "If any one of 
my men," he said, "had met the German Kaiser at the 
crossroads, he would have offered him a cigarette." 
Bishop Greer, who was sitting, robed, in the middle of 
the platform, turned to one of the clergy, and said, 
"He can say that; if I had said it they would have 
hissed." As it was, the seven thousand people who 
were present heard the remark in absolute silence. If 
it was a silence which lacked sympathy, it was a silence 
which the hero of an awful experience compelled. 



THE LAST ten summers, Bishop Greer spent 
at North East Harbor, drawn thither not 
only by the beauty of the place but by the 
personal friends who also spent their summers there. 
Much of his holiday was spent in diocesan business; 
but he also relaxed. Here the friendship with Bishop 
Doane deepened. He saw almost daily such friends 
as Dr. Cornelius Smith, Professor Rufus Jones, Mr. 
George Wharton Pepper, and Professor Francis G. 
Peabody. He appreciated meeting interesting people 
from other cities than New York. Dr. Peabody recalls 
for us the restful companionship of these Maine 
summers: 

Bishop Greer's habit of life at North East Har- 
bor revealed to his affectionate neighbors some 
of his most characteristic and winning traits. It 
was a life of detachment and contemplation, in 
which the routine of administrative care became 
for the time subordinated to meditation on great 
thought and aims. He appreciated the beauty and 
shared the social recreations of the lovely island, 
but there was always a perceptible remoteness of 
spirit from these occupations of a summer resorti 

273 



THE BISHOPRIC 273 

as though his mind were more at home in a world 
of ideas and ideals. It was, in the Greek sense, 
the life of a philosopher, who, as Plato said, is a 
lover not of a part of truth but of the whole. In 
a rare moment of self-disclosure he said one day, 
"I suppose I was not meant to be a Bishop, for 
my real interest is not in machinery but in ideas." 
The same judgment which he thus expressed in 
playful self-depreciation, but which in fact indi- 
cated his highest gifts, was later repeated by one 
of the most discerning of American Bishops, who 
said of him, "Greer is the one among us who most 
definitely has the capacity for vision." In this 
world of ideas and vision. Bishop Greer found 
great peace of mind among the congenial condi- 
tions of his summer home. He read much and 
widely, and his conversation had an elevation and 
comprehensiveness which made his friendship 
precious to minds of the most varied types. An 
interesting illustration of this intellectual catho- 
licity was his acquaintance, ripening into affection, 
with the Quaker preacher and teacher, Rufus 
Jones. The unchurched mystic, and the ecclesi- 
astical dignitary found themselves drawn together 
in mutual appreciation, and it was a most instruc- 
tive experience to listen to their sympathetic dis- 
course. Indeed, there was a strain of mysticism 
in Bbhop Greer's own thought, which delivered 
him from the mechanism of his duties and sum- 



2 74 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

moned him to its heights. Whenever he found 
that consciousness of spiritual communion with 
the Supreme Purpose, there he felt at home, 
whether with a speculative philosopher or a 
Quaker seer. His summer months were passed 
in these high places of reflection, as among the 
mountains of his beloved island, and he returned 
to the city as one who had lifted up his eyes to the 
hills and found help. 

Dr. Rufus Jones also brings his gracious remem- 
brance: 

It had been my good fortune occasionally to 
meet Bishop Greer in the summer at North East 
Harbor on the Maine coast. Whenever we met 
we always talked of the things which most 
deeply interested us and concerned us, and I shall 
therefore speak only of those things. I need 
hardly refer to the beautiful character of his life 
and spirit. All who came into close fellowship 
with him felt and observed this quality of beauty 
in him. WTiat I came to know most about was the 
depth of his life and his profound interest in what 
for want of a better word we call the mystical side 
of religion. He held this aspect in commendable 
balance with the other essential aspects of the re- 
ligious life, but he cared greatly for the reality and 
the significance of the interior life; i. e., for ex- 
perience of God and direct communion with Him. 



THE BISHOPRIC 275 

He always discussed with me the use and value 
of silence and of the practice of the presence of 
God, when all voices are hushed, when all the 
noises of the world are stilled, and groups of people 
in corporate expectation turn toward God, feel 
His environing presence, and enjoy Him. I have 
never known any one who showed a keener in- 
terest in personal accounts of such occasions and 
of such experiences. He was familiar with the 
great literature on the mystic way and he had read 
recent books on the surrender of the soul in si- 
lence, but he had never attended a Quaker meet- 
'ng where the whole congregation dispensed with 
both words and music, and found itself unified, 
fused and heightened through consciousness of 
the living presence of God. He knew clearly what 
it meant and he believed strongly that something 
of that sort was possible for all religious com- 
munions, and just that experience, he felt, was 
needed for the deepening of spiritual conviction 
and power. His own inner ear was very sensitive 
and his heart was well attuned to the vibrations 
of the Spirit. He was one of those persons of 
whom Browning wrote, 

God has a few of us whom He whispers in the 
ear. 

Very often missionaries would be making friendly 
visits at some house on the island. Bishop Roots re- 



2 76 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

calls that one Sunday afternoon when he was Bishop 
Doane's guest, Bishop Greer dropped in to see him. 
The Bishop asked particularly about the religious life 
of the Chinese people. It was a small and intimate 
circle which heard the question. Bishop Roots still 
remembers the eagerness with which Bishop Greer 
seized on the suggestion that the distinctive thing 
Christian missionaries have to take to the Chinese is 
not so much a knowledge of what they ought to be and 
to think, as the companionship and the power of a 
Saviour whom they can know personally. Bishop 
Greer leaned forward to catch every word, and then 
made the point that this is what, above all else, 
we Americans need. That China also needed it was 
to him another proof of the unity of the human race 
and the distinctively human need which the Gospel 
comes to supply. 

Bishop Roots recalls that immediately after his own 
consecration as Bishop of Hankow, he chanced to be 
addressing a large meeting of the Woman's Auxiliary 
in New York. At the luncheon, Bishop Greer made 
his way through the crowd, and, reaching out his hand, 
said to the young Bishop, "How do you do. Bishop; 
I'm Greer." Bishop Roots has never forgotten the self- 
forgetfulness of the man who thought that his face 
might not be known to one who had looked up to him 
for years. 

Bishop Greer enjoyed going through the crowds in- 
cognito. Since ordinarily he did not wear upon the 



THE BISHOPRIC 277 

street any distinctively clerical dress, many a stranger 
had not the least idea that he was speaking to 
the Bishop of New York. Once, in a park, a beggar 
accosted him. The Bishop was inclined to help him 
but first asked him several leading questions. The 
man challenged the evident authority with which he 
assumed his right to know. The Bishop said, "If I 
am to help you I have a right to ask you these ques- 
tions." Then the man said, "Who are you, anyway?" 
knowing that he was someone of distinction. When 
the Bishop told him, the man jeered: "Whatyer givin' 
us; you're no bishop!" At another time he had been 
speaking at a public meeting and was being carried off 
in a friend's carriage. The pompous coachman and 
footman were on the box when the Bishop stepped into 
the carriage. The carriage remained motionless, and 
the Bishop quietly put his head out of the window, ask- 
ing, "WTiy don't you go; what are you waiting for?" 
The footman touched his hat and said, "We're waiting 
for the Lord Bishop of New York." "Well, I'm it," 
said the voice from the window, and the amazed coach- 
man drove on. Sometime after he had resigned St. Bar- 
tholomew's, he was walking quietly through the church, 
glancing with evident affection at the familiar objects 
about him. A new organist had just begun his work, 
who, not knowing the Bishop, turned to him and asked 
him if he were interested in the building. "Yes," an- 
swered the Bishop, "I attended this church for over 
sixteen years; as a matter of fact, I sang in the choir." 



2 78 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

At the consecration of a Bishop in which he had 
taken a leading part, he withdrew at luncheon time to 
a remote corner to get away from the crowd. Finding 
him sitting alone, a layman who felt responsible for 
the diocese, asked him if he would like to meet the 
new Bishop. "Yes," said the Bishop; and followed 
the man into a long receiving-line. It rested him to 
indulge his humor. As the line gradually moved on, 
the layman at length discovered whom he was piloting. 
He was exceedingly oppressed to have the Bishop of 
New York play with his dignity. 

About three o'clock one sleepless night, while he 
was living in the house at Gramercy Park, he heard 
the sound of a pistol. Going to the window he saw 
in the moonlight two policemen carrying off a man. 
At breakfast, the maid said, "Bishop, they shot into 
your office last night." The Bishop curiously investi- 
gated his office, saw the hole through which the bullet 
had come, and then found the bullet on the floor. With 
this bit of evidence in his pocket he went over to the 
police station, to ask what the shooting meant. The 
room was empty, except for a sergeant behind the rail- 
ing. The Bishop walked calmly through the gateway. 
The sergeant said, gruffly, "Get out! " Of course when 
explanations were made, everyone in the office was 
most courteous, but the Bishop enjoyed discovering 
how the ordinary man was treated when he went upon 
a just errand. "I think," he said to the Captain, who 
at last heard his plea in full, "I shall put this sign on 



THE BISHOPRIC 279 

my house, 'Don't shoot the Bishop of New York; he's 
doing the best he can.' " 

Soon after Dr. Greer became Bishop of the diocese, 
he went down to Philadelphia to speak to the Church 
Club. The facetious toastmaster said, "I now intro- 
duce to you the Right Reverend Dr. Greer, who is the 
Bishop of — of — of — of — of — of — , I can't re- 
member the place, — but it's an island just off Jersey 
City, — oh, yes, — I remember — New York." The 
Bishop, rising amid the laughter, began his speech, 
"In the midst of life, we are in — in — in — Phila- 
delphia." 



XI 



PEOPLE who heard the Bishop preach during 
the last years of his life knew little of his 
preaching in the height of his power. The 
routine, the necessity of preaching constantly, the in- 
creasing physical weakness, diminished the glory of 
his former eloquence. Naturally enough, he depended 
on old material, which was of high quality; but his 
delivery was slow, and often at the most impressive 
moment, when he was saying what he believed most 
important, his voice dropped to a whisper. There was, 
however, one occasion in each year when he preached 
his great sermon. This was at the Diocesan Conven- 
tion when he made his formal address to the delegates. 
While he was Bishop Potter's assistant, he ordinarily 
spoke of diocesan interests. But when he became the 
Diocesan, he rarely touched upon the material or the 
numerical, and gave himself up to the consideration of 
some large theme. He would begin to prepare these 
addresses in the summer. He desired the members of 
the Convention to have some vital spiritual message 
which would send them back to their parishes with a 
deeper sense of religion. 

In 1905, he spoke of Religious and Moral Instruc- 
tion in the Public Schools: 

380 




-J 
> 

3 



s 
o 



< 



THE BISHOPRIC 281 

History has shown that all the great moral 
movements and reforms have had their ultimate 
source not in secularism but in religion, or in some 
religious faith. That has been their motive power. 
Like the faith of the Christian Church, which, in 
spite of all its crudities at times, its bigotries and 
excesses, has breathed new life into that world of 
thought and spirit which came into being here on 
these American shores. And even those who 
stood in the later days of our history, whether 
from their own fault or from the Church's fault, 
beyond the Church's limits, and who as standing 
there outside of the Church's pale, lifted up their 
voice for righteousness and justice and brother- 
hood and freedom in this American land, as in the 
troubled days of the Slavery agitation, were in- 
spired and kindled by that religious faith. 

This then it seems to me is not only the teaching 
of history in general but of our American history 
in particular, — that moral training finds its sanc- 
tion and its force in religious training. And how 
shall that be given? Well, that is what the Chris- 
tian Church is for, that is its distinctive office and 
task. Is the Church doing all that it can do? It 
seems to me that it is not; and with no other ma- 
chinery or instruments or tools than what she now 
possesses it might do very much more than what 
it now is doing. 

The only effective way in which to make good 



282 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

citizens is by making first good men, and that must 
be and is the work of the Christian Church. I 
do not mean to say of course that there are not 
good men and citizens outside the Christian 
Church. 

There is another need, as great or greater, in 
this American Republic, which, unless supplied, 
will make all our secular enlightenment and de- 
velopment militate against our real and true ad- 
vancement. It is the need of Righteousness; not 
only on our statute books to be so often evaded; 
not only in our public speech simply to be ap- 
plauded; but woven into the heart and life and 
fiber of the people. That is the task to which 
the Church is challenged. It claims to be of God. 
So it is. But let it make good its claim, beyond 
all doubt and question, beyond all possible cavil, 
by doing here and everywhere the righteous work 
of God. 

In 1906, he spoke of institutions and societies of the 
diocese, and began by showing the need of an institu- 
tion which he himself filled by the founding of Hope 
Farm: 

It is doubtless known to most of you, if not to 
all of you, that for the past few years there has 
existed in this city an institution which is popu- 
larly known as "The Children's Court," or, in the 



THE BISHOPRIC 283 

language of the statute creating it, a "Court for 
Juvenile Misdemeanants." Before the passage of 
this statute, in 1902, all juvenile offenders were 
arraigned and tried in the same Courts with 
adults, many of whom were criminals of the worst 
and vilest type; and where, in addition to the de- 
moralizing influences of such degrading exposure, 
the pressure of business, as the Judges state, was 
often so great and heavy that the children could 
not receive that individual and thorough examina- 
tion to which a child is entitled and always should 
receive. It is now required, however, that the 
Children's Court be held in a building separate and 
apart from any other Court, to be presided over in 
turn by the different Judges of the Court of Spe- 
cial Sessions, each of whom, while sitting in the 
Children's Court, acts in the double capacity of 
both Judge and Jury, and is vested besides with a 
quasi-parental authority. This Children's Court, 
according to the annual report of the Judges for 
1905, deals with the largest number of children's 
cases of any similar court in the world. 

But there is a difficulty in disposing of some of 
these cases in accordance with the provisions of 
the Statute. For the law creating the Court re- 
quires that the children who are convicted of mis- 
demeanors shall be sent to institutions where the 
religious instruction given shall be in accordance 
with the religious faith of the parents. And this 



284 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

is where the Court finds itself embarrassed in its 
attempted conformity to the requirements of the 
statute, — not with reference to the children of 
Roman Catholic parentage, as they are provided 
for with an adequate institutional plant; but with 
reference to the children who are not of that par- 
entage and for whom at present there is not ade- 
quate provision. 

That is a need which has not yet been met, but 
which should and must be met if the experiment 
of the Children's Court in this city, which every- 
one regards as a most enlightened measure and in 
the interest of good citizenship, is to be success- 
fully worked and carried out. There are, for in- 
stance, in the Roman Catholic Protectory in the 
Borough of the Bronx, some two or three hun- 
dred children who are not of Roman Catholic par- 
entage; and while our Roman Catholic friends, in 
view of the existing straitened situation, are 
willing to receive them, they do so simply as 
a matter of accommodating courtesy, and it is 
not fair to them or to the children to have this 
burden continued. Our Hebrew fellow citizens, 
recognizing the need of such an institution for the 
children of their faith, have already undertaken 
to make provision for it, and are about to erect 
such an institution, if they have not already done 
so. For Protestant children, however, the need 
still exists, and the judges of the Children's Court, 



THE BISHOPRIC 285 

and other city officials, and many private citizens, 
as well as the Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children, have from time to time called 
attention to it and expressed the hope and wish to 
have the need supplied. Happily it is now about 
to be supplied and the preliminary steps in that 
direction have been already taken. An organiza- 
tion has been formed and incorporated, called 
Hope Farm, which has purchased the property 
known as Priory Farm, in Dutchess County, in 
this diocese, the Trustees of that property having 
decided, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, to 
discontinue the maintenance of that work. This 
property will hereafter be used as a Church Pro- 
tectory for children of Protestant parentage. The 
State Board of Charities has given its unanimous 
approval to the project, and it has also been placed 
upon the City Budget for the ensuing year. This 
will go very far towards the maintenance of the 
work, but not quite far enough; and I have there- 
fore been requested to bring it to your notice, 
which I very gladly do, and to ask that you will 
give it your encouraging support. 

His first address, as Diocesan, in 1908, was largely 
occupied with his appreciation of Bishop Potter (al- 
ready quoted in this volume*) and with his own plan 
to proceed for the present without Episcopal assistance. 

♦ Page 319 /. 



286 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

But there is one characteristic passage which tells how 
strongly he felt the importance of Church endeavor 
in New York: 

The Christian Church is facing now its oppor- 
tunity to do a large and needed work in the life 
of the modem world. And if that be true of 
the Church considered as a whole, is it not espe- 
cially true of the Church in New York? For that 
is what New York means, that is what it spells — 
Opportunity; or that is the synonym for it, Op- 
portunity. 

In 1909, he spoke of the difficulty and the value of 
the work of a country clergyman. He himself had not 
been a country clergyman since the Clarksburg days 
in the 'Sixties; as a bishop he was seeing anew what the 
country problem was. And his first thought was the 
personality of the rector: 

The rector of a city parish has his problems 
and his burdens; they are hard and heavy enough, 
as I know from my own experience; but he also 
has what his clerical brother in the country church 
does not have: he has and feels the quickening 
inspiration of the city life and spirit; he is not so 
isolated and so lonesome; he is more in touch with 
people, and the fruits of his labor are usually more 
abundant and more in evidence to him. And while 
the demands which are made upon his time and 



THE BISHOPRIC 287 

strength are numerous and exacting, his work is, 
on the whole, a more stimulating work and does 
not have the same dull monotony in it. But to go 
steadily on, week after week, month after month, 
year in and year out, in the same worn and 
trodden path of unrelieved duty, with little or no 
refreshing change, no novelty of circumstance, 
no romantic glamor and no variety in it, — this is 
hard work; it is heroism; and this is what I have 
seen and found in our own diocesan and mission- 
ary field, and for which I bespeak your interest 
and support. You cannot change the conditions; 
they are what they are, and as such for the most 
part they will still remain, and those who labor in 
them make no complaint against them. 

In 19 10, after a reference to the General Convention, 
and after asking for a Suffragan Bishop, he went on 
to speak of the Living Bread: 

I do not forget the other less spiritual but still 
important needs of the present time and age. No, 
I do not forget them; I recognize them fully, and 
hear what is so often their sad and bitter cry. I 
hear from toiling men today, and toiling women 
and children, the bitter cry for bread, and woe to 
the Church that does not heed that cry and does 
not try to relieve it. And yet, as from the very 
heart of this material age and in spite of its ma- 



288 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

terial absorptions and engrossments, I cannot fail 
to hear another cry today; inarticulate, if you 
please, but still, though faint, a famished cry, for 
another kind of bread, the Living Bread that 
came down from above and that still comes from 
a personal fellowship with the Living Christ. 

In 191 1, in speaking on the general subject. The 
Church Getting Ready for Work, he laid stress upon 
the function of the Cathedral, now coming into prac- 
tical service: 

Now having fetched this somewhat circuitous 
compass, I come back to the Cathedral. It 
should be the centre of all this missionary work 
of the diocese, healing its division and giving unity 
to it. To this end, I beg to suggest that the pres- 
ent canon be so amended that no Archdeacon, 
while acting as such, shall be rector or settled 
minister in charge of a parish or congregation. 
This would enable him to give his entire time and 
energy to the missionary work of his district, and 
is the exact language of the General Canon with 
reference to Suffragan Bishops. In order that 
this arrangement may be carried out, I beg to 
suggest that it be recommended by resolution of 
the Convention to the Trustees of the Cathedral 
that they make provision for the support of the 
Archdeacons of the diocese by the payment of 



THE BISHOPRIC 289 

their stipends. In order that the Convention may 
feel that it has full warrant for taking such ac- 
tion, I beg to state in this connection that it is 
the declared purpose of the Trustees, as expressed 
in a resolution recently adopted by them, so to 
change the present Constitution and Statutes that 
a certain number of the Trustees shall be chosen 
each year by the Convention, thus bringing the 
Cathedral into close and vital touch with the dio- 
cese itself, and making it an open corporation. 

This being the case, I trust the Convention will 
feel that it is well within its rights in calling upon 
the Trustees of the Cathedral to make provision 
for the payment of the stipends of the Arch- 
deacons. 

In 1 91 2, he made a missionary address, dealing 
particularly with the Social Service Commission and 
the Board of Religious Education: 

Everything is missionary work that will tend 
to make it less difficult for the kingdom of God 
to come. And yet we must be careful to observe 
that the social service problems involved in the 
missionary work of the Church, while they are to 
some extent outward and material, are not chiefly 
so. They are chiefly spiritual problems which 
cannot be fully met except as they are given spirit- 
ual solution. What is it for instance that makes 



290 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

today so much of our social friction? Is it the 
unequal distribution among us of material things 
and goods with the unequal opportunity for the 
acquisition of them? Possibly so, to some extent. 
But is there not some more fruitful cause, than 
simply these unequal and perhaps unfair material 
conditions, and which their adjustment would not 
reach and remove? Would it weaken much, 
would it weaken at all, selfishness, covetousness, 
avarice, and greed? I have not so read the story 
of human life. And was not the greatest social 
revolution which was ever brought about upon 
the face of the earth wrought and brought about 
not by an attempted change in outward forms and 
conditions, but rather by those who seemed to be, 
both for themselves and others, careless of such 
conditions, and who, with a chiefly spiritual aim, 
sought first the kingdom of God? 

In 1 913, he referred to the General Convention 
which had just adjourned in the same building where 
the Diocesan Convention was meeting. Naturally, he 
paid a sincere tribute to the donors of Synod House. 
Then he went on to speak of social service: 

The task therefore of the Christian Church, or 
rather its opportunity, its hopeful opportunity, 
is to help to find in Jesus Christ, first, its spirit- 
ual fulfilment. It does not yet recognize or call 



THE BISHOPRIC 291 

itself Christian, and in the highest sense of the 
term it is not Christian, because it is not associ- 
ated with God, does not have the sense or the 
power of fellowship with God. It is man's work 
for man, working by himself with his own unaided 
efforts and building up man's kingdom in the 
world, instead of the work of God for man, work- 
ing in and through man, and building up God's 
kingdom in the world. It sees God perhaps, or 
sees Him as a Perhaps, energizing in Nature, but 
not in human nature. It shuts him out of human 
life as though it were a sphere of energy and ac- 
tion separated from Him. While the heavens de- 
clare His glory, and the firmament shows His 
handiwork, and the stars in their courses reflect 
and reveal Him and are obedient to Him, yet what 
is done in human life on this particular star, how- 
ever great and good and serviceable it may be, 
does but show the glory and handiwork of man. 
What therefore is needed is to bring God and man 
together, and to give to the work of man God's 
fulfilling touch. 

In 1914, he was moved by the war, then just begun: 

Let us then for a little while turn aside from this 
engrossing topic, from wars and rumors of wars, 
from an age drunk with passion, and try to hear 
and imderstand its underlying sober thought, as 



292 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

we find that thought expressed in what may be 
regarded as its two interpreting voices, — the 
voice of its Philosophy and the voice of its 
Science. This may seem an ambitious classifica- 
tion for a brief Convention address, and yet I 
hope its fitness will appear as we proceed; and 
possibly too we shall find that it is pointing out 
the way in which the Church should try to heal 
and cure the age of its conflicts and its strifes, 
to give it the blessing of peace, and to bring it 
back to God. 

In 191 5, he chose' for his title. The Sovereignty of 
Service: 

Another kind of will has come into the world; 
not a will to power but a will to service or to 
power through service. It came with Jesus Christ, 
who, although he came in the Name of God, yea, 
and in the form of God, and with the power of 
God, yet thought it not a thing to be grasped at 
that he should be equal with God, but made 
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the 
form of a servant. 

There is another application of my subject 

which I venture to suggest: It was said of St. 

Francis of Asissi, that he listened to those to whom 

even God Himself did not listen, or apparently did 

' not listen. Such groups of persons have always 



THE BISHOPRIC 293 

been in the world and are in the world today. 
They do not come to our churches, where God 
through His ministry is supposed to speak to the 
people and to listen to their cry, as others can 
come if they will. They cannot come. They are 
beyond the pale, not only of the ordinary ministra- 
tions of the Church's preaching service, but of the 
extraordinary ministrations of a nation-wide 
preaching mission. They have broken the laws 
of God and man, and society for its own protec- 
tion has cast them forth and out, to pun- 
ishment and banishment, and where, as human 
waste, like Job upon his ash heap, they 
seem to be forgotten and forsaken both of God 
and man. That is the old penology and the way 
of it still survives. But it is passing, and a new 
penology is coming, whose aim, while it is to pun- 
ish, of course (it must always do that, and the 
punishment must be a real punishment), has also 
for its aim to reform, to restore, to rehabilitate, 
and thus to give back to society a valuable social 
asset. This is not only more Christian and more 
humane, but, to use a somewhat hackneyed 
phrase, it is more scientific. For the ultimate 
scientific aim is not destruction but conservation, 
and even in the business world, the industrial 
world, that has come to be one of the most dis- 
tinctive and characteristic features. What was 
once thrown away as refuse or as waste is now 



294 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

absorbed and utilized and converted into profit. 
That is the principle which distinguishes the new 
penology that is coming from the old penology that 
is going. It is not an easy thing to do. It is a 
very difficult thing to do. It has its risks and 
dangers, and many mistakes will be made in the 
attempt to do it. But that is always the case with 
new and untried social service efforts, however 
right and wise. And the attempt to make and 
mold a new and better penology, to gather up the 
fragments that nothing be lost to our social life, 
is a form of social service to which the Christian 
Church should give its intelligent sympathy and 
support. 

Towards the end of the address he spoke of the Tem- 
perance question, and asked that the Church help on 
the movement by approving and commending, as a 
timely and important social service, the principle of 
a voluntary total abstinence from alcoholic liquors: 

There is still another form of public service 
which the Christian Church today must not and 
cannot ignore. I refer to what is commonly called 
the Temperance cause or question. That too is 
a question which concerns not only the welfare of 
the individual but the welfare of society. It is a 
social service question. It is for this reason that 
society feels that it has the right to take whatever 



THE BISHOPRIC 295 

action in the premises may be necessary for its 
own protection and welfare even though such ac- 
tion should limit or restrict the exercise to some 
extent of individual freedom. No one has advo- 
cated more strongly the inherent right and privi- 
lege of individual freedom, even to anarchistic ex- 
cesses, than the late Mr. John Stuart Mill; and 
yet Mr. Mill has put himself on record as saying 
that as soon as any part of a person's conduct 
affects prejudicially the interests of others, society 
has jurisdiction over it. And again he says, when- 
ever there is a definite damage or a definite risk 
of damage to either the individual or the public 
the case is taken out of the province of liberty 
and placed in that of morality or law. That so- 
ciety has this right, in theory at least, will hardly 
be denied; but the practical question is whether 
the public sentiment back of any proposed temper- 
ance legislation is strong enough to enforce it and 
to prevent it from becoming inoperative and dead. 
That is a question about which there is diversity 
of opinion, especially in its application at the 
present time to cities like New York. It is not 
my purpose at present to consider it, but rather 
to suggest a practical way in which the Church 
may help, and help on a movement which is loom- 
ing large today in the nation and in the world, and 
a movement which will not down, and that is, by 
approving and commending, as a timely and im- 



296 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

portant social service, the principle of a voluntary 
total abstinence from alcoholic liquors. I do not 
refer of course to their therapeutic use or their 
Holy Communion use, but simply to what is called 
their use as a beverage. And yet even so, many 
will regard it as a radical proposal, and so it is; 
one that cuts across or cuts up many social cus- 
toms, which in some cases may require both sacri- 
fice and courage. But that I submit is but a small 
price for any individual or any group of indi- 
viduals to pay for the sake of the public good, and 
that it is for the public good is evidenced not only 
by a strong and growing public sentiment in that 
direction but also by the fact that even a large sec- 
tion of the business world today favors and com- 
mends it as an important or even an essential 
moral factor in the conduct of its business. And 
certainly the Christian Church, whose mission is 
to lead in all moral reforms, should not lag behind, 
should not surrender its moral primacy to the 
world, but should on the contrary not only in 
theory claim it but in practice prove it and by the 
moral leadership of its example establish and con- 
firm it. And the Church in this diocese, and espe- 
cially in this city, can by its example contribute 
to that end. For whether it be to its credit or not, 
it is a fact beyond dispute that the Church here 
can and does exert a considerable social influence. 
It is a talent which it possesses, for which it must 



THE BISHOPRIC 297 

give accounting. Let us not neglect it or waste 
it or spend it on ourselves, but with a sense of re- 
sponsibility for its use let us use it, not from com- 
pulsion, but as our own free and voluntary act, 
let us use it in the service of society at large. 

In 191 6, under the title, Social Service Today, he 
said: 

We often hear it said in this mammon-worship- 
ping age, that "money talks." So it does. But 
character also talks, if not more noisily and 
showily, at least in the end more effectively than 
money. And not only talks but works. How it 
works I do not know; I cannot trace or diagnose 
its full dynamic reach; it is a mystery. But it is 
the mystery of the work of God in the Gospel of 
the Incarnation, the way in which he would win 
the world, recover and reclaim it, by the Incarna- 
tion of His love, His Life, His Character, Himself, 
in Jesus Christ. 

Passing over for the moment the address of 191 7, 
we may note that in 191 8 he chose for his subject, Tem- 
poralities and Spiritualities, when, towards the end, he, 
the pacifist, spoke of the spiritual values of the war: 

There is indeed latent and potential in this 
American nation a rich spiritual treasure trove 
which it has not yet developed and brought out 



298 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

and exercised and used; which, like an unde- 
veloped mine, it has not put to work, but which it 
feels, vaguely, dimly, and of which at times it 
dreams. But now it is coming out, that latent life 
of the soul, that corporate soul of the people, is 
taking hands and feet, is taking form and face and 
working body on. Can we not see it? Are we 
not beginning even now to see through all the 
smoke and battle noise and confusion of the strife 
with all its variant voices and its discordant cries, 
— some of the best and noblest qualities of the 
human soul, which will meet and blend and merge 
and become at last the corporate soul of the na- 
tion! 

Again, in 1919, he pleaded that the Convention rec- 
ognize The Church as a Personality: 

If the entire Christian Church throughout the 
Christian world should become in practice and in 
fict a united Church, it would then bring more 
clearly and more fully out the personality of Jesus 
Christ, making thus the Christian Church a per- 
sonality in the world, energizing with the person- 
ality force of the living Jesus Christ. That is 
what, in order to be an effective Church, it must 
become. That, however, is not what in fact it is. 
It is at present an aggregation of different parts, 
bodies, groups, or Communions. Its influence is 
weakened by the divisions in it. It does not func- 



THE BISHOPRIC 299 

tion with the personality power with which other- 
wise it would. 

There are many Christian Communions other 
than our own, which believe as we do in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Can we not cultivate in every pos- 
sible way, a friendly, fraternal, and spiritual fel- 
lowship with them? This would not be organic 
Church imity; but it would be a spiritual prepara- 
tion for it, so that when the cry is heard. Behold, 
the Bridegroom cometh! the whole Christian 
world would then indeed be spiritually ready to 
heed His voice and go in with Him to the Marriage 
Feast. Without that previous spiritual prepared- 
ness any organic unity of the Christian Church 
would be but a body without life; it could not 
function. 

Let us then do what we can to prepare and 
make ready the way for the unification of the 
Christian Church, that so it may become one 
great, strong personality in the world, bearing 
down upon the world and energizing in it with the 
personality force of the Living Jesus Christ. 

Now we may return to the address of 191 7, en- 
titled, A Cathedral Vision. Because he was a man of 
vision always, it was natural that as his ph)^ical force 
abated the dreams of his spirit should be heightened. 
He was living in the Cathedral Close. He was spend- 
ing less and less time in journeys. More and more he 



300 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK 

was in the growing church, pleading with those who, 
as fellow trustees, were jointly responsible with him 
for its finishing, to cast caution aside and proceed with 
the construction, until the war came to take everything 
we had. He saw in it more than a massive structure. 
It had spiritual possibilities within it: it could gather 
up the isolated units of parochialism and fuse them 
into a beautiful diocesan unity: it could be an instru- 
ment towards the unity of the whole Church; it could 
be a centre of intellectual light and leading in the Spirit 
of Jesus Christ. This address is so filled with the en- 
thusiasm of his later Episcopate that it must be quoted 
in full: 

Ever since I have occupied my present position 
and office as a Bishop in the Diocese of New York 
I have been more and more impressed with these 
two things. First, with the fact of the many non- 
parochial activities of the diocese, missionary, 
educational, charitable and others, exceeding per- 
haps in number and variety, or at least equalling 
those of any other diocese. And second, with the 
further fact that there is, or seems to be, no com- 
mon nexus tie to bind them all together in one 
organic whole, and thus to make a Diocesan Unit 
of them, except as some of them are reported to 
the Convention, which we know and are con- 
scious of chiefly at Convention times, or know 
and then forget, as they are afterwards printed in, 
or buried in, our diocesan journals. 



THE BISHOPRIC 301 

How, then, can we unify and bring them all 
together and make a Unit of them, a Church Unit 
of them, a spiritual Unit of them, with a spiritual 
Unit force? 

This word "Unit" is much in vogue at present. 
It has come to be in the recent use and application 
of it almost a new word, with a new meaning in it 
and a new necessity for it. How, then, can we 
make a Unit, not theoretically but practically, of 
all those non-parochial activities of the diocese, 
to energise with a spiritual Unit force? That is 
one of the questions which, according to the terms 
of its Constitution, the Cathedral is meant to an- 
swer. For what is the Cathedral? Not simply an- 
other church in the diocese where the Word of 
God is preached and the Sacraments duly adminis- 
tered, and differing from those which already 
exist simply by the fact of its being larger. It is 
that, of course, but it is more than that; much 
more. According to the terms of its Constitution, 
which was framed and fashioned by that gifted 
Church seer, whom the late Bishop of the diocese, 
with his knowledge of men, assigned to the task: 
"The Cathedral, as the Church of the Diocese, 
is the administrative centre of all those activities, 
ecclesiastical, educational, charitable and mission- 
ary, which are diocesan in their scope." 

With the parochial activities of the diocese the 
Cathedral should not interfere. It probably could 
not do them as well as the parishes themselves are 



302 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

doing them. But even if it could, it is neither de- 
sirable nor necessary, except to a very limited ex- 
tent, and for this reason: The work that is done 
by the parishes is the work of the Church immedi- 
ately behind them, or, may I not say, the work of 
Religion behind them, of organized religion as 
represented by the Church and working through 
the parishes. Religion, in short, is supposed to be 
and is the inspiration of them; the d)mamo or 
power-house which started them in the first place 
and keeps them going on. And while that parish 
work is indeed expressed in many secular ways and 
through many secular forms, — clubs, guilds, 
kindergartens, day nurseries, dispensaries, clinics, 
etc. — it is nevertheless essentially religious, with 
a religious spirit in it, and because the parishes to 
which it is related and from which it proceeds are 
themselves a religious body, a spiritual body, a 
soul, to inspire them. 

But with regard to the other works and activ- 
ities which are not parochial and which have no 
direct parochial connection, that is not so much 
the case or so apt to be the case. They, on the con- 
trary, are apt to become, if not wholly, yet more 
or less secularized, materialized activities and 
works. Take, for instance, the work of the Social 
Service Commission for the social uplift and wel- 
fare of the people, for the betterment and im- 
provement of their material conditions, with 



THE BISHOPRIC 303 

better houses to live in, more sanitary and health- 
ful; with better shops and factory-rooms and 
offices to work in; with better hours of labor and 
better wages for it; giving to them and their chil- 
dren a better, a larger and freer opportunity in 
life. All that, indeed, is a good and very much 
needed work. It is one of the hopeful and better 
signs of the times that so many persons today, and 
not exclusively those connected with the Church, 
are giving of their time and strength and substance 
to the prosecution of it. And yet, while it is a 
good and needed work and not to be neglected, 
it is not enough, is not by itself enough. In order 
to make our social life, whether poor or rich, a 
new and changed life, with a new spirit in it, giv- 
ing a new perspective, a new direction to it, giving 
an uplift, a "lift-up" to it, something more is 
needed than a new and changed physical environ- 
ment; something that will go more deeply down 
into the life itself, to change and transform it with 
a spiritual transformation. 

That is not simply religious sentimentalism, 
which, in these more practical days, we have out* 
grown and left behind, as having little practical 
worth or practical value in it. Not so. Professor 
Tyndall is certainly not a religious sentimentalist, 
and this is what he says in a notable address: 
"You who have escaped from these religions (of 
the world) into the high and dry light of the intel- 



304 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

lect, may deride them, but in doing so you deride 
accidents of form merely and fail to touch the im- 
movable basis of religious sentiment in the nature 
of man. To yield this sentiment reasonable satis- 
faction is the problem of problems at the present 
hour." 

Mr. John Morley, whatever else he may be, is 
certainly not a religious sentimentalist, and this 
is what he says: "No permanent transformation 
of society can ever take place until a transforma- 
tion has first been accomplished in the spiritual 
basis of thought." 

"It is a modern custom," says another discern- 
ing writer, "to talk much about the ethics of Jesus 
. . . as a programme for an ideal social order; 
but a careful reader cannot fail to feel in Christ's 
teaching the complete fusion of His ideal for so- 
ciety with His consciousness of unseen realities." 

Now, that should be the aim, the ultimate aim 
and purpose of social service work, to bring it 
into touch, into quickened touch, with those un- 
seen realities, and to give to our social life not only 
a physical but a spiritual transformation, and so 
not merely to spread it out and over a larger and 
smoother flat physical surface, but to put more 
and more of the lifting power, of the spiritual 
power of Jesus Christ in it. And, according to the 
terms of its Constitution, that is what the Cathe- 
dral is for and what it is meant to be. 



THE BISHOPRIC 305 

And this should be done, not only for our social 
service work, but for all those other activities and 
works, benevolent, charitable, etc., which are dioc- 
esan in scope, by making the Cathedral their ad- 
ministrative centre, and in doing so to bring them 
all more closely into touch with the Christian 
Church, with the Christian religion, more closely 
into touch with Jesus Christ Himself, and so at 
least to recognize, to recognize ourselves and to 
help the world to recognize and realize the need 
of Jesus Christ and His transforming power. 

That is one aspect of the Cathedral Vision. Ac- 
cording to the wording of its Constitution there is 
another, namely, "an instrument of Church 
Unity." That is what today we are thinking 
about, talking about, dreaming about and hoping 
to bring about, and which is needed now more per- 
haps than ever. But how can we hope to do it 
when there are in the Church, in this branch of 
the Church and in every branch of the Church so 
many different party lines and types and party 
divisions in them? Well, that depends. There 
are parties in the Church : we may not like to call 
them that but that is what they are. There are 
parties in the Church as there are parties in the 
State. There always will be. How can it be 
otherwise? People do not think alike on all State 
questions; neither do they think alike on all 
Church questions. Or, if they do, it must be and 



3o6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

is because they do not think and therefore do not 
have those vigorous, strong and deeply rooted con- 
victions without which nothing much is or can 
be done. 

But what is partisanship? What may it be? 
What ought it to be? In reading some time ago 
an interesting book on Frenchmen in the United 
States, by the French Ambassador here, I was 
struck with his remark concerning General Wash- 
ington. He was speaking, of course, not of his 
ecclesiastical or theological, but of his political 
attitude. He was, he said, "a convinced partisan 
of the straight line." There was, in other words, 
nothing indirect or tortuous about him or about 
his way of doing things or of having them done. 
Open, frank and fair, and with strong and vigor- 
ous personal convictions, and, incidentally, in that 
time of strenuous and bitter personal strife, never 
less than a gentleman, — he was not working for 
himself or for his own advancement, but for a 
great and worthy cause. That was one of the 
things that helped to make him great, with a great- 
ness that will last while the American nation lasts, 
— "A convinced partisan of the straight line." 

Now that is a partisanship which, as existing in 
the Church, would not only liberate the Church 
without fear of stain or blemish to itself, more 
freely into the world and all the world affairs, po- 
litical, civic and other, but would not hurt or 



THE BISHOPRIC 307 

hinder its progress and growth. That is a parti- 
sanship in the Church which would not of neces- 
sity be divisive and disruptive, but co-ordinating 
and constructive; which would not tend to break 
the unity of the Church, but rather to promote it; 
or if not directly to promote it, at least to go be- 
fore and prepare the way for it. Now it is for 
the co-ordination of such party types and such 
party groups that the Cathedral stands, not for 
one particular party, type or group; there is no 
need of that; that already is; but to express and 
represent them all, as far as they are true and 
loyal to Jesus Christ as this Church hath received 
Him; and so to be an instrument to make ready 
the way for the coming more and more into the 
Christian Church of Jesus Christ Himself, Who 
alone can give its true unity to it, and by giving 
unity to the Church to make it a more effective 
force and factor in the world, and tending thus to 
give a unity to the world. 

That leads me to speak of still another aspect 
of the Cathedral Vision which is suggested to us 
by the words of its Constitution, namely, as "a 
center of intellectual light and leading in the spirit 
of Jesus Christ." 

The seductiveness of that materialism which is 
today to the average man of such appealing force, 
is said to consist in "its picturability, which 
eschews abstruseness and abstractions; it appeals 



3o8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

to common sense; it does not violate our everyday 
habitual judgment; its adoption is promoted and 
confirmed by the superficial smattering of science 
possessed by the man of average education." 

Now, materialism as a philosophy is, as we be- 
lieve, a false and shallow theory of life; and yet 
if it is to be refuted and confounded in its ap- 
pealing plausibility it must be done in some other 
way and by some other means than by a dialectic 
or philosophic process. Such a refutation of it 
may be accomplished and has been accomplished 
time and time again; but that is not enough to 
overcome and counteract its plausibility power. 
That must be done in some other way, by 
some kind of effective and impressive pictur- 
ability as a force or factor in our common daily 
life, with its common everyday employments and 
pursuits. Religion in its essence is a spiritual 
reality; and yet it has, and has always had, its 
temples in the world to make it more apparent 
and more appealing to us. Hereafter, in some 
other state, some disembodied or discarnate state, 
where there is no night, no obscuring night to dim 
and cloud our vision, those physical temple forms 
will not then be needed, and "there is no temple 
there." But that now is not the case. Spiritual 
realities are mediated to us and made effective 
for us through the mediating means of material 
signs and symbols. How otherwise, indeed, can 



THE BISHOPRIC 309 

we reach and touch them, or can they touch us as 
a practical power in us? Not, as I have said, by 
a philosophic or intellectual process. That may 
suffice for those who subsist chiefly, if not wholly, 
upon ideal things; but they are the few, the elect- 
few. And for the majority, the great majority of 
us, those ideal thoughts and things are non-ex- 
istent things, non-substantial things, like angels' 
food, like stuff that dreams are made of. And so 
it has come to pass that our intellectual processes 
in this material age, or this commercial age, are 
apt to be directed towards more material things or 
what we are pleased to call more substantial 
things. That is the tendency, or a tendency and 
growing tendency in modern education, pushing 
in and working in our modern institutions of 
scholarship and learning, and giving, as we think, 
a more practical value to them. Well, if it needs 
to be so, then let it be so. We shall not quarrel 
with it. Yet, just because it is so, is there not a 
need in our modern life for another kind of educa- 
tional institution as big and great as they are? 
Yes, bigger and greater, more arrestive and im- 
pressive, and standing in our midst as the intellec- 
tual center of light and leading in the spirit of 
Jesus Christ, and giving us another and larger 
vision of life, with another and better and more 
appealing picturability. 
It is a Cathedral Vision ; and is it not a needed 



3IO DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

time? Yes, and a hopeful time in which to try 
to build that vision up; when, not only in the 
Church but also in the world, both of which are 
training schools of God, His spirit is touching 
more and more the hearts and minds of the people 
with high, noble and unselfish aims, and moving 
them to give so freely and so fully not only of 
their substance, but in willing sacrifice so freely 
of their lives to their fellow men, to make 
the world free! Is it not the time, the hopeful 
and encouraging time, in which to build that vis- 
ion up and give embodiment to it? Or the time at 
least is coming, it is drawing near, the world is 
ready for it or getting ready for it. 

"WTien this western Goth so fiercely practical, 
so keen of eye, shall find out . . . that nothing 
pays but God, served, whether on the smoke-shut 
battlefield, or work obscure done honestly, or vote 
for truth unpopular, or faith maintained to ruin- 
ous conviction, or good deeds wrought for Good's 
sake mindless of heaven or hell: . . . When he 
shall find that all prosperity whose bases stretch 
not deeper than the sense, is but a trick of this 
world's atmosphere, the desert-born mirage of 
spire and dome." 

It Is a Cathedral Vision 

for men of vision in the Church to work for and 
towards. A vision to work with, until it has been 



THE BISHOPRIC 311 

at last accomplished and fulfilled, and all those 
false and cruel and self-exalting aims which are 
working now in human life and crushing the 
people down, shall be driven out, shall be driven 
out, and the Kingdom of God shall come, and He 
Whose right it is to reign in righteousness shall 
reign! 

Having himself been a great preacher, his first em- 
phasis was upon preaching. He hoped that St. John's, 
New York, might grow to be as conspicuous a centre 
for preaching as St. Paul's, London, and Westminster 
Abbey. He therefore, very early, felt that the pulpit 
of the Cathedral must be as widely open as possible 
to the most varied messages of those who believed in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He longed that as many Communions of Christians 
as would might claim the Cathedral as their own. One 
of the earliest large contributions to the building fund 
was from a Presbyterian, D. Willis James, Esq. The 
great window at the middle of the apse is in memory 
of a Presbyterian, the Honorable Whitelaw Reid. An- 
other Presbyterian, Mrs. Russell Sage, gave the mas- 
sive permanent pulpit in memory of Bishop Potter. 
When, in his last Lent on earth, clergy of various Com- 
munions preached at the special services of Holy Week 
after Evening Prayer, he, though obviously too ill to 
come, insisted on being present to show his profound 
sympathy for other religious leaders. He wanted to 



312 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

do something towards liberating the desire for Chris- 
tian unity; he was discouraged with the limitations of 
the conferences and conversations about it. He him- 
self never could be thought for a moment to be trying 
to cooperate with others for his own advantage, or for 
the advantage of his own Communion. He was a man 
of unselfish vision: it was the great Church Catholic 
of which he was thinking, not a magnified Protestant 
Episcopal Church. This was to have room in it for 
all who loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Even 
the man who would shut him out was to be included. 

He had lived in New York long enough to love it. 
He idealized it, but he was not blind to its faults. Its 
commercial buildings, its library, its museums, were on 
the most magnificent scale. If the worship of God was 
the most important act which could take place in New 
York there was no outward symbol to show that the 
people thought so. It is not the most important note 
of the Cathedral that it should be a huge object, thrust- 
ing its towers skyward from a conspicuous hilltop; 
but size and site have value in a city given to measure 
reality by the Woolworth Building and the Metro- 
politan Tower. The Cathedral was to be the alabaster 
box which New York should give to Christ, and no one 
should dare to sneer at the waste. 

Bishop Greer was insistent that the Cathedral should 
not weaken the parochial life. Hither little parishes 
could come for occasions and appreciate how strong 
was the Church of God in all the world to which they 



THE BISHOPRIC 313 

belonged. The Bishop delighted in the union service of 
Confirmation for the colored people. It was always 
held at night, and twenty churches and missions par- 
ticipated in it, each rector leading his own candidates 
to the chancel rail. He delighted too in the service for 
letter-carriers, in the service for actors, in all the serv- 
ices for patriotic societies, in the services for Masons 
and other fraternities. So the men and women from 
the parishes, and the orders, and the scattered groups 
of the city came together, and under his friendly, self- 
forgetting leadership, gave themselves to an enthusi- 
asm for unity in a place which knew no ownership less 
than the Heavenly Father Himself. 

He was not thinking chiefly of the conspicuous 
people who came on notable occasions, glad as he was 
to have them there. He was thinking first of all of 
the poor man who sat with self-respect next the rich 
man: the man who could take little part in the service 
sitting unembarrassed next the seasoned church-goer. 
And he liked to see and hear young, unknown men in 
the pulpit, uttering their prophecy with power. To 
one of the youngest presbyters of the diocese, he wrote: 

I had a free afternoon last Sunday, and dropped 
in at the Cathedral, and sat in the last pew by the 
door, where I heard every word you said, and 
heard it too with the greatest satisfaction. You 
made me feel like trying to be a better and a 
braver man. I hope you will not mind my telling 
you this. 



314 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

While men thought that feebleness of body was ham- 
pering him, his soul was set free into this final vision 
of his life. The country parishioners at Clarksburg, 
the young men at Trinity Church in Covington, the 
throngs at Grace Church in Providence, the larger 
throngs in the Parish Church and in the Parish House 
of St. Bartholomew's, and his people all through the 
Diocese of New York, were marching through his 
dreams up into a greater Temple of Jerusalem, the 
Temple of a New Age and a new Continent, the Cathe- 
dral of his beloved home, the metropolis of the Western 
World. 



XII 

IN THE fall of 191 6, after a quiet summer at 
North East, the Bishop went to the General Con- 
vention in St. Louis. Mrs. Greer was too ill to 
accompany him. He had taken a cold which he found 
it difficult to throw off. He had barely reached the 
hotel in St. Louis when Miss Greer, who was with him, 
became convinced that he would be obliged to spend 
the whole three weeks in his room, and therefore the 
decision was quickly made, that he return to New 
York. From this time he was more than ever con- 
scious of being hampered both by his defective sight 
and by delicate health in other ways. Once he turned 
to a friend, saying, "Do you know anything about the 
tragedy of growing old? Well, it is like this: I am 
as young as ever so far as my mind is concerned; in- 
deed, I never had more zest for discussion ; and I think 
I have a clearer perception of intellectual values. 
Above the shoulders I am young; below them I am re- 
minded that I have really grown old ! " 

He had difficulty in meeting country visitations. 
'Tast week," he said to a bishop, "I took a train up 
the east side of the river for a west side visitation. By 
some mistake the rector did not meet me. Darkness 
was coming on. I stood on the station platform as the 

3XS 



3i6 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

train moved out, and then, hearing a ferry bell, asked 
a stranger to guide me to the boat. He kindly did so, 
and left me sitting on a bench like a blind beggar. The 
rector met me on the other side; we had supper, serv- 
ice, and a little chat, and I went to bed and stayed 
there, sleepless, seeing nothing until morning, and then 
I went home knocked out for twenty-four hours. But 
don't mention this to anyone, please." 

He did not spare himself when his friends were ill. 
Bishop Lawrence, recovering from a serious illness in 
the early weeks of 191 9, had received messages of sym- 
pathy from his friend in New York, but he did not 
tell Bishop Greer that he would soon be passing 
through the city on his way to the South. "Towards 
evening," Bishop Lawrence writes, "Greer came grop- 
ing to the door of my hotel room. An hour before, 
he had heard that I was in New York, had ordered 
his motor, and came down. It was the last time. I 
led him to the elevator and he slipped away. It was 
a friendly act and very like him." Dr. Parks recalls 
the last time he spoke with the Bishop. He was in the 
hospital after an operation on his eyes. The Bishop 
came to see him. "I was bandaged," writes Dr. Parks, 
"and could see nothing; but I recognized his voice. He 
asked me how I was able to bear the tedium of the 
dark room, and I told him that while I had dreaded 
it I found it less irksome than I had expected. 'The 
truth is,' I said, 'I have discovered that what I called 
my mind was simply the reflex action of external 




y-u./i Br-jj., A. )•. 



CAROLINE AUGUSTA GREER 



THE BISHOPRIC 317 

stimuli. Now that those are removed I find that my 
mind is a blank; in other words, that I have no mind.' 
He said, 'My dear fellow, you don't mean to tell me 
that you have only now made that discovery! ' And so, 
with an affectionate pressure of his hand, he left me, 
and I never saw him again. He was well named, 
David, — beloved." 

One day in March, Bishop Greer telephoned to Mr. 
Fiske, the superintendent of the parish house of St. 
Bartholomew's, asking if he would be in the parish 
house that evening. When Mr. Fiske said "Yes," the 
Bishop continued, "Then I'm coming down." He 
came, and spent the evening wandering lovingly 
through the building, recalling old times and old faces, 
and telling the history of the work. It was his last 
visit to the house. It reminds one of that pathetic 
night when Phillips Brooks wandered through the 
streets of Boston, as it were bidding them farewell. 

The Chinese students were meeting in Synod Hall. 
To the surprise of everyone, towards the end of the 
evening. Bishop Greer came in. He said he could not 
stay away. He wanted these foreigners to know how 
warm a welcome he gave them to the Diocese, and 
especially to the Cathedral. Then he told them of the 
days, years before, when he had gathered their fellow 
countrymen into the cosmopolitan fellowship of St. 
Bartholomew's. These were days when he was think- 
ing of the past as well as the future. 

The heaviest part of his burden was the conscious- 



3i8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

ness that Mrs. Greer, now wholly confined to her room, 
was gradually fading away. She had been so com- 
pletely one with him in every part of his work, as well 
as in his personal life, that once, when a friend of both 
of them spoke of Mrs. Greer, he said, "I don't know 
how I can face the separation after so many years of 
companionship." 

On his seventy-fifth birthday (which was his last 
on earth), a committee representing the clergy of the 
diocese, went to his house to give him a watch. As he 
sat in the big library of the Bishop's House, the sun 
streaming through the western windows, he seemed 
very happy in the consciousness of the love of his 
brethren. The little group were gathered about the 
fire. One of the committee standing before him, told 
the Bishop, in simple and gracious words, what he 
meant to us all. The Bishop smiled, partly in grati- 
tude, and partly in amusement that anyone should 
think of saying such kind things of him. After a few 
playful words in which he spoke his thoughts, he be- 
came very serious. "As I grow older," he said, "my 
faith gets simpler; it is all summed up in Jesus Christ." 
He walked with his guests through the hall, still hold- 
ing the watch in his hand, but turned suddenly as he 
came to the staircase leading up to Mrs. Greer's room. 
A look of inexpressible tenderness came over his face 
as he said, "I must show this to Mrs. Greer; she will 
like it even more than I do." 

In reply to one of his birthday letters which had 



THE BISHOPRIC 3^9 

been written by a clergyman to Mrs. Greer, he told 
his hope for the future: 

Mrs. Greer is gradually and slowly gaining 
strength, and that is not only something good for 
the present but full of promise for the future. 
What a joy it would be to both of us if some Sun- 
day, — not now, perhaps next fall, — we could go 
down to Church, and sit under your min- 
istry for a couple of hours. But that is a dream, 
and a very delightful one, even if it never 
materializes. 

As he looked forward to the Diocesan Convention, 
he thought that he might go on with his work with the 
help of another Suffragan, who, with Bishop Burch, 
would relieve him of all visitations, and he himself 
could then become like a consulting physician, an older 
man, to give out of his experience, counsel to the 
clergy who would seek it. When his devoted man 
Peter brought him his breakfast in those days, he could 
not tell which was whiter, the face of the Bishop or 
the sheet. "O Peter," he would say, "I don't feel very 
well, but don't say anything to the family." Peter 
pleaded that he stay in bed. "No," was the answer; 
"I want to do my work." When the Convention met 
in May Bishop Greer was not present. He was in St. 
Luke's Hospital, undergoing an operation which was 
serious only because of his age. The Convention did 



320 DAVID HUMMELL GREER 

not wish to act upon his suggestion when he was away 
from them, and therefore pledged him all the episcopal 
assistance he needed, and promised to do whatever he 
might ask when he and they were permitted to take 
counsel together. Messages between Synod House and 
the hospital went back and forth through the two days 
of the Convention, and the delegates went to their 
homes expecting soon to see the Bishop, at least in his 
usual health. But on Monday, May 19, he grew 
rapidly worse, and, in the twilight, we dare to think 
that he saw face to face the Master whom all his life 
he had served. Meantime, Mrs. Greer too was gazing 
at the western light; she was so near the mysterious 
transition that she could not be told of the Bishop's 
going until the great service in the Cathedral was over. 
In just a month she followed him. What she had been 
to his ministry of love to others no one can measure. 
What we do know is that she never held him back from 
any sacrifice, and that, when he saw his brightest 
beckoning to service, she saw it too, and urged him on 
to do his work, to the utmost, in the Name of 
the Master who owns them both. God was good to 
them, and allowed them to see together the vision 
which he gives to those who love and serve Him. 

The Diocese of New York mourned a leader who 
had been first of all a loving friend to the clergy; an 
example of simplicity in a scene which to most men 
seemed only ambitious and worldly. It would have 
been easy for him to be the mere administrator, lost in 



THE BISHOPRIC 321 

the contemplation of the outer fabric of such buildings 
as the Bronx Church House and the Cathedral, snared 
in the business of bewildering statistics. But as he 
ascended the years he looked out beyond all these 
things. In his convention addresses, in his confirma- 
tion sermons, in his private talk, he looked across the 
valleys to the mountain where Christ stood trans- 
figured. It was not a mere loyalty to outward laws 
and doctrines which shone in his face, but a consuming 
enthusiasm, a devout love, which told us that his life 
was hid with Christ in God. Careless of outward 
fame and success, absorbed in a personal devotion to 
Christ, he was another St. Francis, who showed in his 
body the marks of the Lord Jesus: he was glad to have 
his own leadership forgotten that Christ might be all 
in all. 



INDEX 



INDEX 

A LLEN, A. V. G., 58, 67 /. 

Appleton, F. R., 134 /. 
Armstrong, John, 3 /. 
Atkinson, £. L., 142 
Atkinson, J. R., 196 ff. 
Atwood, J. W., loi 

gALFOUR, A. J, 239 . 

Bancroft, Professor, 14, 43 
Barry, J. H., 260 
Bedell, G. T., 14, 15, 18 /. 
Bedell Lectures, 141 /. 
Blodgett, Mrs. J. J., 234 
Board of Missions, 206 Jj., 212 ^. 
Boston Clericus, 66 §. 
Bourne, F. G., 234 

Brent, C. H., 109, 172 /., 182, 208 /., 239 
Bronx Church House, 192 ^. 
Brooks, Phillips, 66 §., 74, 76, 83 /., 93, 102, 123 /., 126 /., 

131,317 
Brunot, F. R,, 34 
Burch, C. S., vii, 218, 224 §., 240, 247, 257, 260, 320 

(^ATHEDRAL of St. John the Divine, 233 §., 299 jf., 

311 #. 
Cheney, C. E., 23, 25 
Chorley, E. C, 258/. 
Church Congress, 139 #. 
Clark, Thomas M., 56, 63, 64 §., 69, 82, 144 

32s 



326 INDEX 

Clarksburg, Va., Christ Church in, 23 /. 
Convention Addresses, 280 ff. 
Covington, Ky., Trinity Church in, 25 ff., 36 
Cummins, G. D., 34, 35, 55 
Cutting, W. B., 239 

£)E KOVEN, James, 32 /. 

Dix, Morgan, 138, 176, 177, 188, 226 
Doane, W. C, 138, 142, 150 /., 189, 224, 276 
Drown, E. S., 162 ^. 
Dyer, Heman, 27, 40 ff. 

piSKE, G. McC, 57 

Floyd- Jones, E,, 259 
Friday Evening Club in Providence, 61 ^. 

QATES, M. H., 227, 228 

Greer, Caroline A. (wife), 26, 183, 201, 211, 240, 260, 

315, 318 

Greer, D. H.: Born in Wheeling, 3; Early life and educa- 
tion, 6 ff.; Early Ministry, 23 ^.; Married Caroline A. 
Keith, 26; Rector in Providence, 47 ff.; Rector in New 
York, loi ff.; Bishop Coadjutor of New York, 187 ff.; 
Bishop of New York, 218 ff.; died in New York, 320 

Greer, Elizabeth Yellott (mother), 3, 11, 13, 175 

Greer, Jacob Rickard (father), 3, 145 

Grosvenor, W. M., 128, 138, 176, 233 

Guthrie, W. N., 243 

fJADLEY, H. H., 108 

Hammarskold, J. G., 59 
Hoffman, E. A., 138 
Hope Farm, 116, 202 ff. 
Huntington, W. R., 68, 92, 138, 145 ff., 175, 176, 188, 200, 

237 



INDEX 327 

JOHNS, John, 17 /• 
Jones, Rufus M., 274 /. 

J^ELLER, Helen, 135 ff- 

J^ANG, C. G., 235 

Lawrence, Arthur, 17, 42, 149 
Lawrence, William, 42 /., 98, no, 124, 128 /., 144 /., 189, 

190, 206, 316 
Lines, E. S., 211 ff., 216 
Lloyd, A. S., 206 ff. 
Loan Bureau, 113 /. 

J^cILVAINE, C. P., 14, IS 

Manning, W. T., 226 
Mansfield, A. R., 255 
Morgan, J. P., 177, 194,239 
Morgantown Academy, 8 /. 
Mottet, H., 232 

"VTEGROES, American Church Institute for, 205 ff., 214 /. 
Newton, W. W., 66, 68, 82 /. 

QGILVIE, Mrs. C, 240 
Owen, W. H., 245 

pARISH HOUSE of St. Bartholomew's, New York, in ^. 

Parks, Leighton, 122, 199, 248, 316 
Parks, Lewis, 138, 189 
Peabody, F. G., 272 ff. 
Peabody, G, F., 207, 215 
Pott, W. H., 240, 2 57 
Potter, H. C, 37, 91 /., 112, 129, 147 /., 176 ff., 187 /., 192, 

218 /., 233, 311 
Providence, Grace Church in, 43 ff. 



328 



INDEX 



DESCUE MISSION at St. Bartholomew's, New York, 

^ io8 ff. 

Rhode Island, Elected Bishop Coadjutor of, 144 ff. 

Richards, C. A. L., 57, 74, 83, 87, 130, 181 /. 

Robbins, H. C, 233, 236, 262 

Roots, L. H., 27s /. 

QAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH in New York, 
^ lOI ff. 

St. Elizabeth Home in Providence, 56 

Satterlee, H, Y., 171 /. 

Seamen's Church Institute, 255 

Sedgwick, T., 245 

Silver, H. P., 245 

Sing Sing, Bishop Greer at, 265 

Sloane, Mrs. W. D., 194 

Social Service, 297 

Stanley, A. P., 69 

Stetson, F. L., 222 

Stires, E. M., 229 

'J^EMPERANCE, 294 ff. 

Three Arts Club, 204 ff. 
Trinity Church, Boston, Call to, 122 ff. 

T/'ANDERBILT, C, 94, 11 1, 170 
Vanderbilt, Mrs. W. H., 112 

■yX^AR, Attitude towards, 267 ff. 

Washington and Jefferson College, 10 ff., 173 ff. 
Western Massachusetts, Elected Bishop of, 148 /. 
Wharton, F., 71 /. 
Whipple, H. B., 139 
Whittle, F. M., 24 
Wright, F. A., 262 

VALE Lectures on the Lyman Beecher Foundation, 131 ff. 



/I 



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